


Play By The Rules

by xSophie2x



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Boyfriends, Dates, Fake Dating, Fake Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Going out, Happy Ending, M/M, Slow Burn, catching feelings, fake dating turns real, helping with homework
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:23:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 45,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19833004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSophie2x/pseuds/xSophie2x
Summary: Theo and Liam's friends are tired of their constant bickering and arguing, and agree they need to do something about it. That's why they come up with a plan for them to get to know each other differently: pretend to be each other's boyfriends and date each other for a month. None of them really knows how it will work out, but are the end results really such a surprise?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter is short... Sorry! The real action will start next time!  
> I hope you'll still enjoy! :)

# ‘So, are you sure we should do this? His reactions are always the same.’

Theo chuckled, leaning forward and taking a look at the tiny lock on the locker. ‘Positive,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘Now hand me that key.’ 

Brett let out a soft sigh, exchanging a pointed look with Tracy behind his back, before firmly pressing the key in Theo’s stretched out hand. He grinned, putting the key in the lock and twisting it, watching as the locker sprung open. 

Out of his bag, he took the photo that he had brought with him, placing it in the locker on the notebooks and other clutter that was already in there and took a step back, slamming the locker shut. He grinned, turning around. 

‘And now we wait,’ he said with a proud laugh, though when he looked up, he was surprised to find Brett, Tracy and Josh looking at him with raised eyebrows. ‘What?’ 

Tracy rolled her eyes at the question, turning away from him a little bit. ‘Nothing,’ she said, her voice laced with a tone that made Theo believe the opposite was true. 

He frowned at the thought, leaning against the lockers with his arms crossed and stared at his friends’ faces as he bit down on his lip in thought. He couldn’t help but be a little bit annoyed at Tracy’s statement, as he didn’t know what she meant by it, and tapped his foot on the ground shortly. 

Before he could ask though, and point out the unimpressed looks on his friends’ faces at his idea, he was interrupted by the front door of the school that fell shut with a bang and the sight of a messy, dyed dark red haircut at the beginning of the hallway that was hard to miss, and had his heart skip a beat. Immediately, a smirk grew on his face. 

‘Here we go,’ he mumbled, pushing himself off of the lockers. ‘Let’s have some fun.’ 

Tracy let out a groan, turning away from him with a shake of her head. ‘You are such a baby,’ she mumbled, ‘Always doing things like this,’ and Theo raised his eyebrows at the comment, crossing his arms. Before he could respond, though, he was interrupted by his classmates arriving before him, as two black laced ankle boots came to a stop in front of him. 

Theo looked up, grinning widely. 

***** 

‘I just can’t believe, that you have to work tonight!’ Mason exclaimed as he pulled the car to a stop in one of the only empty spots left in the school’s parking lot. ‘And that on our weekly movie night! Did you tell them it was our weekly movie night?’ 

‘No, I did not,’ Corey said with a sigh, unbuckling his seatbelt to get out of the car. ‘Somehow I don’t think they’d listen to that.’ 

Mason sighed, pushing his car door shut. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m… This is ridiculous. Liam, would you please say something?’ 

‘Hmm?’ Liam looked up from his phone, swinging a strand of red hair out of his eyes and looked over to where his friends were standing by the car. 

‘Mason…’ he started. ‘I don’t think this is really Corey’s fault… Or that the bookshop had a choice. You know he’s always free on Thursdays.’ 

‘Exactly,’ Corey smiled, walking around the car to where Mason was standing with a smirk on his face. ‘They just had to come up with a solution because Lydia is sick today… Besides,’ he said, wrapping his arms around Mason. ‘Now I’ve got a reason to make it up to you.’ 

Liam’s eyes widened at the words, and he cleared his throat. ‘Guys. Please. I’m still here.’ 

Mason chuckled, blushing, and cleared his throat. ‘Right, well, come on. Or we’re gonna be late.’ 

He took Corey’s hand, their hands swinging between them as they walked to the school, Liam following behind them, and pushed the door open. With a bang it fell shut again behind them, causing a few people to turn and stare at them, and Liam swung his black school bag over his shoulder securely. He knew that he looked a little different, his looks still catching everyone’s attention with his dark red hair, his lip piercing and his big leather jackets and boots, and he liked the way he looked, but it still made him self-conscious when everybody looked at him. 

With a roll of his eyes, pretending not to notice, he walked further with Mason and Corey to his locker, when at the beginning of the hallway he suddenly noticed a small group of friends standing further down it, that almost made him stop dead in his tracks. 

‘Mason?’ he asked. ‘What is that jerk doing by my locker?’ 

Mason sighed, rolling his eyes a little, before walking further. ‘Let’s find out by asking,’ he said, and Liam rushed to follow him. He kept his eyes on Theo and from afar, he could already see the same annoying smirk on Theo’s lips that he always had and said he was up to something again, and annoyance bubbled under Liam’s skin. He averted his gaze, his jaw clenched. 

‘Theo,’ he asked flatly through gritted teeth, forcing himself to try and keep a friendly voice, and failing, if Mason and Corey’s reactions were anything to go by. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ 

Theo grinned smugly. ‘You know,’ he said, leaning against the lockers on the other side of the corridor so casually that Liam could feel his annoyance growing, burning under his skin, and making him clench his jaw. ‘This hallway doesn’t just belong to you.’ 

Liam frowned, keeping his eyes on Theo for a moment longer and narrowing them, before tearing his eyes away from him and turning away from him with a soft sigh. ‘Whatever,’ he groaned, fumbling in the front pocket of his bag and pulling out his locker key, still feeling Theo’s gaze burning on the back of his head. 

Next to him, Mason shot him a glance and opened his own locker, a glance that meant that Theo must be up to something here, but Liam ignored it. When wasn’t he, after all. With a sigh Liam opened his locker, but when he did, it didn’t take him all too long to figure out why Theo was hanging around in the hallway by his locker all of a sudden, and what he had done. 

Hurriedly, he ripped the photo of Theo out of his locker and turned around to him, his blood boiling when he saw Theo casually leaning against the lockers on the other side of the corridor, and held the photo up for him to see, almost ripping it in half. ‘What, the hell, is this!?’ he snarled with his jaw clenched, emphasizing every word. 

Theo raised his eyebrows, grinning smugly and crossing his arms in a way that only made Liam more angry. ‘I don’t know,’ he replied, his voice laced with a tone that told Liam he was enjoying every second of this. ‘I mean, I knew you were into me, Dunbar, but I had no idea it was this bad. A photo of me in your locker? Really?’ 

‘That you put in there,’ Liam snapped, crushing the printed photo up into a ball and throwing it at Theo. ‘You know that very well!’ he said, ignoring the way Brett, Tracy and Josh next to him glanced at Mason and Corey. ‘How did you even do it?’ 

‘Ah, well, that’s a good question,’ Theo grinned, seemingly too happy with himself, and Liam groaned, turning around despite how hard he thought it was to do, and not lash out at him again like he had done multiple times before. 

‘Whatever,’ he said. ‘You can keep your stupid photo, class starts in a moment.’ 

‘Come on, Theo,’ Tracy said, waiting for him as Brett and Josh walked ahead of them towards the stairs already. ‘Let’s go.’ 

Theo hesitated, lingering and looking at Liam as he dug through his locker in irritation and pulled out the books he needed for class. 

‘There’s a key, in the janitor’s cabinet,’ he said. ‘It fits on all the lockers.’ 

With that, he walked after his friends, upstairs to class. Liam let out a sigh, the annoyance at Theo Raeken still rolling off of him in waves, as he held his books in his hands and glanced towards Mason and Corey who had their eyebrows raised in confusion at Theo’s last comment, before he walked with them to class, the crunched up photo still left behind in the hallway. 

***** 

It took Liam longer to calm down again after Theo’s stupid prank, than he would’ve liked. It was only just a prank after all, and Theo Raeken was the last person who deserved that much attention. 

It was the boringness of the school day that helped him distract from that, took his mind off it, as it forced him to focus on other things like classes and lunch break with Mason and Corey. 

It was during biology class, that his routine-like day of going to class, another class, lunch break and more classes was roughly interrupted by something more interesting. Liam was focused on the schoolboard in front of the class, paying attention to what Mrs. Taylor was writing on it with his notebook open in front of him to copy her notes, when the door opened and Liam watched as Theo Raeken stepped inside. 

Ten minutes too late. 

Mrs. Taylor straightened her back at the noise, not turning towards the door as she said: ‘I’m afraid you’re too late. Class has started ten minutes ago.’ 

She turned to the door then, looking up, but when she saw who was standing in the doorway, a smile appeared on her face. 

Liam rolled his eyes, slumping forward over his desk and a soft sigh escaped his lips as he watched the scene unfold before him. He didn’t know what it was about Theo Raeken that everybody apparently liked so much, Beacon Hills High School’s resident golden boy, but they did. Even the teachers had a soft spot for him, although Liam knew that that was likely because of all the good grades Theo had in his classes. Especially in biology, which was Mrs. Taylor’s class. There was no denying that he was one of the best students in their year. 

‘I apologize, Mrs. Taylor,’ Theo said in a polite voice, from where he was still standing in the doorway. ‘It won’t happen again.’ 

‘Right, well,’ Mrs. Taylor said with a sigh. ‘It’s great that you’re here too. Take a seat, then we can continue with what we were doing.’ 

Theo nodded, replying to her that he would in a polite voice that Liam couldn’t help but think was a bit overly done, and had his eyes roll at him once more. He grinned smugly, just because he knew he could do this and get away with it, and he stepped into the classroom, walking further inside, past Liam, to take a seat at the back of the room. When he had, Mrs. Taylor turned around again, and it was when she had her back turned to the class again to continue her writing on the board, about the same thing that she had before Theo came and interrupted her, that Liam leaned towards Mason quietly. 

‘Can you believe this asshole?’ he hissed through gritted teeth. ‘He comes to class late, just because he can, and he knows he can get away with it! And then he acts so smug about it too!’ 

Mason leaned back to him slowly, an unimpressed look on his face and an unimpressed tone sounding through his voice. ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘You’ve been saying that, more than once.’ 

‘Yeah, because it’s true!’ Liam hissed back. ‘He does it just because he can and he knows it. Because everybody lets him!’ 

It was true, Liam knew. Everybody seemed to have taken a liking to Theo, especially the girls at Beacon Hills High School, and Liam couldn’t deny that it annoyed the hell out of him. Theo Raeken was a jerk, and he couldn’t see a thing about the other boy that had him deserve the title of most popular boy of their year, and all the attention of the rest of their classmates. 

No matter how good-looking he may be. 

‘Well, maybe they have a good reason,’ Mason whispered back. ‘How would you know?’ he asked, referring to the fact that Liam hadn’t given him a chance, and had never really spoken to him without his usual tone of annoyance that he used with Theo. It was true, Liam thought, though he knew he didn’t really intend to change that. 

A soft sigh at Liam’s stubbornness escaped Mason’s lips and he looked behind him, past Corey, to where Theo was sitting in the back of the classroom. He had his eyes on the board, busy taking notes, but every now and then his eyes wandered to where Liam and Mason were talking. 

Mason frowned, looking away from him around the room, to where Brett, Josh and Tracy caught his eye, and they looked back at him frowning. Mason pressed his lips together, as he thought that they were all agreeing to the same thing. This weird, kind of rivalry between them, had to stop. 

***** 

‘These two are driving me insane, and it’s always the same thing with them: Theo teases Liam about something, and he get’s angry about it. I remember once, when Liam punched him against the nose!’ Tracy exclaimed, hopping on the table gracefully, and inspecting her nails. ‘We have to do something about it.’ 

Mason sighed, nodding. ‘I agree,’ he said. 

It wasn’t often that their two groups hung out like this, but for now, Mason thought that they had a pretty good reason. They were all getting rather tired with how the days went now, after all. 

Brett sighed, looking up. ‘But what? Theo only likes to get a reaction out of Liam, and those are always the same. For someone as smart as him, I’m surprised he doesn’t know that by now.’ 

Josh snorted at that, but Tracy raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, he probably does it for a reason, maybe he likes those,’ she commented, and Corey groaned, moving to sit down on the table next to her. 

‘Well, it’s pretty damn annoying,’ he said. ‘I wish there was something we could do to stop it.’ 

Tracy paused at that, her eyes wide, and she looked up at Corey's words as if they had sparked an idea, a grin that told Mason that she was up to something playing on her lips. ‘Well, what if there is?’ she asked with a slight smirk. ‘Something that would require them to spend more time together?’ 

Mason swallowed, an alarmed feeling creeping up on him, not sure if he liked the sound of that. ‘Guys…’ he started. ‘Just… Keep in mind that I think Liam really doesn’t like Theo. Okay?’ 

Tracy stayed silent for a moment, her eyes wide in thought, before she said: ‘Okay. Then we’ll just have to think of something that he can look forward to too, right?’ 

Mason frowned, biting his lip. ‘Like what?’ he asked nervously, not sure if he really wanted to know, and Tracy pressed her lips together. 

‘I don’t know yet,’ she said finally. ‘But…’ 

‘But you can’t deny that there’s weird, kind of tension between them,’ Brett said, looking at Mason and standing by his friend. Mason bit his lip at the words, as there really was no denying that. It was in the way Liam spoke to Theo menacingly, or always seemed to be overly fixated on everything Theo did and hadn’t noticed that the way the other boy irritated him had gotten slightly too much. 

Tracy nodded, before hopping off the table with grace. ‘I don’t know yet,’ she said to Mason, to answer his question. ‘But we’ll think of something, okay? Though, I gotta go now first.’ 

She grabbed her bag, swinging it over her shoulder. ‘Bye,’ she said then, more to her friends than to Mason and Corey before walking off, and Mason couldn’t help but have a slightly relieved feeling washing over him at her last, indecisive words, that meant that nothing might actually come from this. 

‘I gotta go too,’ Corey said, interrupting his thoughts, and hopping off the table. ‘Got work tonight.’ 

Mason nodded, thinking about their cancelled movie night sadly again, and Corey pressed a kiss against his lips as if he knew what he was thinking, saying goodbye to him, before walking away. Mason watched as he left, a frown on his face. He wondered what it was that the others wanted to do, what they were gonna plan and if anything was really gonna come out of this. And deep down, he couldn’t help but wonder, how well this was gonna end.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Enjoy! :)

# ‘Hey, thanks, Mase, for taking me to school again,’ Liam said, pushing his car door shut with a thud and leaning against it.

‘No problem, that’s what friends are for,’ Mason grinned, as he locked his car and Liam thought about his mom needing their car this morning, before they started towards the school.

As they did, Liam couldn’t help but be a little bit nervous for school today. He knew that today was the day they would get their biology test back that they had made a few weeks ago, but Liam couldn’t shake the anxious feeling that he had not made it so well. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know what his grade was.

Science subjects just weren’t his strong suit.

With a sigh, he followed Mason into the school, to the upstairs corridor where Corey’s locker was, but as they walked to the staircases past the hallway on the ground floor, Liam stopped in his tracks as something suddenly caught his eye.

He watched as Theo took a small piece of paper from Marcie, a girl from their class, with a smile on his face as she handed it to him, and Liam thought it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was her phone number on there.

He clenched his jaw at the sight, looking over towards Mason. ‘Can you believe him?’ he asked through gritted teeth, continuing even as Mason opened his mouth and didn’t get the chance to say something in response. ‘Do you think he’s actually ever going to take her up on her offer and call her back?’ he asked.

Mason bit his lip, looking back at him with a look on his face that Liam didn’t recognize. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘He’s done it in the past.’

Liam stayed silent, looking towards Theo again as he said something to Marcie again with a smile, and they chuckled about a joke that he made together. He clenched his jaw. It was true, he knew, over the past couple years that they’d gone to high school together, Theo had had a couple of girlfriends, and one boyfriend too, but they never seemed to last too long. Liam couldn’t deny that he wasn’t a fan of the way Theo handled it, the way he seemed to toy with other people’s hearts so carelessly and only ever did what he wanted in his relationships. Liam didn’t know what kind of person he had to be to do that, how he could be like that with other people, but he knew from experience that it wasn’t a nice thing to do, that could leave people feel quite broken up.

‘Come on,’ Mason interrupted his thoughts, nudging his shoulder softly as if he knew what, or who, he was thinking about, to gesture to him to come with him. ‘We have to get to Corey, and to class.’

Liam nodded, glancing towards Theo one last time before walking after Mason up the stairs, and didn’t catch the way Theo caught his stare and glanced after him in confusion as he walked away.

Liam raced up the stairs, his and Mason’s footsteps loud, before they turned the corner into the corridor and Mason spotted Corey.

‘Guys!’ Corey called as he spotted them and Liam and Mason strolled towards him, a smile on Mason’s face. ‘Good that you’re here!’

Mason grinned, pressing a short kiss on Corey’s lips in greeting. ‘Hey. You look tired,’ he said. ‘What time did you get up?’

‘Ugh,’ Corey groaned, pulling some books out of his locker. ‘I had to get up earlier, to bring Ella to school,’ he said, struggling with his arms full books, and Mason rushed forward to his side to help him before he dropped them all. ‘She’s really obsessed with dragons and dinosaurs at the moment, constantly asking me which I think are better. She told me to ask you guys that question as well.’

Liam chuckled, grinning at the thought of Corey’s endearing little sister and her interests. Of course she’d wonder about something so adorable.

‘Tell her I said dragons,’ he chuckled, putting his bag down on the floor between his feet to lighten the weight on his shoulder.

‘Are you kidding!?’ Mason exclaimed, arguing with him immediately. ‘Dragons aren’t even real. Dinosaurs are badass. You as a history nerd should know that.’

Liam chuckled, laughing as the realization of the ridiculousness of the debate hit him, and rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah, but dragons can…’ _Spit fire_ , he wanted to say, but froze when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

‘Ah, the old dragons versus dinosaurs debate,’ Theo said. ‘Are you choosing the right thing, Liam? Siding with the dragons?’

Liam turned around slowly, to face Theo, with his jaw clenched. He’d already heard that Theo made his question sound a bit sarcastic, a bit curious and hopeful for an answer, like he always did.

‘It’s one of your business,’ he managed through gritted teeth, his annoyance with Theo after seeing him play with Marcie’s emotions and getting her hopes up, and now interrupting his conversation with his friends, burning under his skin. Though he felt like he shouldn’t be surprised when Theo didn’t listen.

‘I can see why,’ he said, talking over him with raised eyebrows and a smirk on his face, with Brett, Tracy and Josh standing behind him. ‘Dragons can spit fire,’ he said, like Liam hadn’t thought the same thing earlier.

Liam clenched his jaw. ‘Whatever,’ he managed, forcing himself not to make another snarky comment at Theo despite how hard it was, and turned around to Mason and Corey. ‘Forget it. Don’t we have to go to class?’

Mason, who had followed their exchange with raised eyebrows, tore his gaze away from Theo and his group and looked towards Liam, nodding. ‘Yeah,’ he said, turning away, and walking towards the classroom in front of Liam and Corey.

Theo followed after them, his friends next to him, and in the room, they fell down in their usual seats together. Liam tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, keeping his eyes on the clock nervously, and as class started, he let out a soft sigh. Watching as the minutes on the clock ticked away, and biology class and the reveal of his inevitable bad grade, came closer.

*****

‘An 4.8!?’ Liam let out a frustrated groan as he leaned his back against the edge of the table, holding out his biology test up in front of him. ‘I can’t believe I’ve got an 4.8.’

A defeated sigh escaped his lips and he shook his head, staring down at his lap hopelessly as he fumbled with the hem of his shirt. He knew it’d be bad, biology was the only class he really found hard, but he had no idea it was gonna be this bad.

‘Hey,’ Mason said softly next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. ‘It’s alright, it’s not that bad. It’s just one grade. Maybe I can help you with the next test? Help you study?’

Liam huffed, placing the sheet of paper that was his test on the wooden table behind him. He considered Mason’s offer, thinking about for a moment, before he frowned, shrugging. ‘No… Thanks,’ he mumbled. ‘I suck at biology anyway.’

Mason exchanged a look with Corey, that Liam caught from the corner of his eye, before he said: ‘Now don’t say that, that…’

He was interrupted before he could finish his sentence, the familiar voice behind them making Liam’s neck hairs stand on end.

‘Sounds like you need a tutor, Liam,’ Theo said with a grin. ‘Lucky for you I just so happen to be quite good at biology.’

Liam clenched his jaw at the comment, snapping his head around to look over his shoulder fast, and Tracy let out a sigh at their exchange, falling down on the wooden bench beside Mason.

‘You’d be the last person I’d ask to help me study!’ Liam snapped, and he watched with a frown as Theo’s smile fell for only a moment before his smirk returned. ‘Oh?’ he asked, a challenging tone sounding in his voice, and he raised an eyebrow. ‘So when I say that I have an 8.6 and you have a 4.8, I’m wrong?’

Liam let out a sigh, rolling his eyes and sending Theo a glare before focusing on Mason and Corey to try and ignore him. ‘Whatever,’ he mumbled, fumbling with an empty candy wrapper on the table in front of him. ‘I don’t need this.’

‘No?’ Theo asked behind him, and Liam could still hear the smirk clearly in his voice, causing him to sigh and roll his eyes once more. ‘I could help you get your grades up…’

Liam let out a sigh at that, clenching his eyes shut in annoyance for a moment before opening them again, and jumping up. ‘You know what, shut up!’ he snapped back, the words coming out a little harsher than he intended. ‘I said I don't need this, I don’t want your help!’ he managed, feeling something snapping inside of him. Theo had a point, he had a better grade than him, but he still just felt like he couldn’t really deal with Theo right now, now that he was already in a bad mood because of his bad grade, which had been the fucking third one in a row.

‘I’m just getting tired of all your stupid jokes, your useless comments that no one wants and your constant interrupting me, which I didn’t ask for and never stops! And I fucking wish you’d stop!’

Deep down, he knew he was going a little too far and the conversation turned a little more serious, he saw it in the way Theo’s eyes went dark, but through the sudden wave of anger washing over him, it was hard to listen to that voice of reason.

‘Well, you know, I wouldn’t mind it, I’m better at biology than you anyway!’ Theo snapped back sharply, a strange tiredness sounding through his voice as his patience ran thin. ‘But if you don’t want it… I could just find someone else to help instead!’

‘Yeah? Well, why don’t you do it then…!?’ Liam started, before he was cut off and didn’t get a chance to finish.

An annoyed groan escaping Mason’s lips interrupted them, as the boy let out a tired sigh and pushed himself up from the table.

‘Enough!’ he exclaimed, pressing his lips together and folding his arms firmly as Liam and Theo’s gazes snapped towards him, stopping their fight. ‘We…’ he sighed, gesturing to the people surrounding them. ‘…Have had enough. We’ve all had enough of the constant bickering and fighting you two do, you just never stop, and we’re tired of it! Quite honestly, it’s been getting too much to have to listen to you over and over again, and it has to stop!’

He looked over his shoulder, towards where Tracy was sitting cross-legged on the table and following the conversation back and forth with wide eyes. Corey sat on the other side of it, a concerned look on his face, and Brett and Josh said nothing, though they looked interested to see where this was headed. ‘I know what to do,’ he said, watching as Tracy’s eyes lit up in anticipation, and Brett and Josh straightened their backs. ‘I’ve an idea.’

Liam swallowed, as he had no idea what Mason was talking about, but knew that it couldn’t be anything good either. ‘Mase?’ he asked carefully from where he still standing in front of Theo, his cheeks still a bit flushed red from anger. ‘What do you mean…?’

Mason didn’t listen to him, still looking towards the group behind him. ‘We let them fake date,’ he said.

It stayed silent, for one endless tense moment as the words got through to them slowly, and Liam’s eyes widened, slowly clenching his jaw at the words, before they understood what was said and the commotion started, everyone’s voices talking over each other loudly.

‘What!?’ Liam managed, the word tumbling out of his mouth fast, like word-vomit once Mason’s words sunk in, his chest going up and down fast. His stomach dropped, his blood running cold at the words as he stared at his best friend with wide eyes and tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat, because there was no way, no way that he said what he thought he had, about him and _Theo Raeken_ , of all people.

Because there was no way in hell, that he was ever gonna date him, be it fake or not.

Liam almost wanted to laugh at the situation it was so ridiculous, because surely Mason wasn’t serious about this, surely he was making a joke, there was no other way because _this was him and Theo Raeken they were talking about, after all._

Liam looked around to the rest of the group, to see if they were laughing and waiting for Mason to step forward and say: Surprise! I’m just kidding! But then he saw Tracy’s eyes sparkling in intrigue, Brett and Josh leaning forward and clutching their stomach with how hard they were laughing, Corey staring at his boyfriend with wide, concerned eyes, and Theo… Theo’s look was a lot more calculating, pensive as he looked at Mason, and it had to be a joke, surely this whole thing had to be a joke, but suddenly Liam wasn’t so sure about that anymore.

The thought of it made him feel nauseous.

He stared towards his best friend with wide eyes, waiting with his breath held until he did step forward, but it just stayed silent and Liam swallowed, hard.

What if he wasn’t kidding?

‘Mase…?’ he started, a little unsure, through gritted teeth. ‘No, what are you talking about? There’s no way I’m even gonna do anything close to this!’ Just as Tracy said: ‘Explain.’

‘It’ll be simple,’ Mason said turning towards the group and taking a look around, ignoring Liam’s eyes on him for a moment before turning back to him with what Liam thought was a slightly apologetic look in his eyes. ‘You’ll fake date, but it’ll only be for a month, and you’ll do everything a real couple would too. And maybe you two can get to know each other differently then.’

Liam bit his lip, staring at Mason, and wondering how he could possibly even get an idea like this. His words sounded hopeful, the tone in his voice matching the look on his face, but Liam knew it was useless. Even if he was going to agree to this, which he wasn’t, there was no guarantee that his and Theo’s thoughts of each other would change.

‘No,’ he said. ‘No, forget it.’ He glanced towards Theo, with a still cool look on his face, and tapped his foot on the ground in irritation, because there was no way…

‘I like it,’ Brett said then, interrupting his thoughts, making a slight annoyance burn under Liam’s skin, and he clenched his jaw and fumbled with his hands as Brett looked towards him. ‘Let’s do it.’

‘Me too,’ Tracy commented, leaning back as she looked from Liam to Mason. ‘But we need rules. If we wanna make sure this goes right, we need rules.’

‘No,’ Liam said again, loudly, through gritted teeth. ‘I don’t remember agreeing to this.’ The fact that they were all willing to go through with this without listening made him clench his fists.

Mason nodded, looking towards him. ‘Liam,’ he started softly. ‘It might help, you know?’ His voice sounding hopeful, and Liam stayed quiet as he knew he had nothing to say to that anyway, and Mason looked towards Tracy again. She grinned, leaning back. ‘Rules?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows. ‘You’ll do everything that a real couple would too, that includes going out with each other on dates, talking to each other, seeing each other outside of school, holding hands… Everything. The whole works.’

Liam let out a breath, looking towards Mason, but then Brett chuckled, looking up at them. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s a dare. And whoever falls in love first, loses.’

For a moment, Liam froze, a tense silence, before he snorted bitterly, humorlessly, and crossed his arms. Him? Falling in love with Theo Raeken? _Unlikely_. ‘This is ridiculous,’ he muttered. ‘How are you even gonna check that. And what does the loser have to pay?’

‘Oh trust me, that’s not that hard,’ Josh laughed with a voice that was much too cheerful for Liam’s liking. ‘We’re your friends. And when you lose… You have to treat everyone to pizza!’

Liam sighed, crossing his arms. ‘Well, that’s great,’ he mumbled, though he would be lying if he said that he minded free pizza very much. _It shouldn’t be too hard_ , he thought to himself. He wasn’t going to lose this.

Mason grinned, looking around the group. ‘It’s simple,’ he said. ‘You’ll date each other for a month, and the loser has to treat everyone to pizza!’

Liam stayed silent at the words, watching the scene unfold in front of him from a distance as the realization that they acted as if it was settled dawned on him, and swallowed past the bitter taste in his mouth as he still hadn’t really agreed to this. ‘That’s great,’ he muttered. ‘But when I win, what do I get? What’s my perfect outcome?’

Mason frowned, looking over at him in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’

Liam let out a sigh and looked around the group, his arms crossed, swallowing away the bitter taste in his mouth upon doing this. ‘One condition,’ he said. ‘When it’s over, when this is all over, he has to leave me alone. For the rest of the year.’ He looked towards Theo.

Theo raised his eyebrows, a startled look crossing his face quickly before it was gone again, and he crossed his arms. ‘Now hold on,’ he said, quickly. ‘That’s something I didn’t agree to.’

Liam remained silent, staring at him pointedly, and Theo raised his eyebrows. The group didn’t say anything, instead too interested in how this was going to work out, and after what seemed one long, endless moment, Theo sighed.

‘I promise.’

Liam stayed silent at that, not having expected that so fast, and looked at Mason’s expectant look, Tracy’s intrigued, sparkling eyes, and the anticipation clear on Corey’s, Brett’s and Josh’ faces, and he swallowed. A bitter taste settled in his mouth as the realization of what was happening exactly washed over him, the scene that was unfolding in front of him, and the non-existent possibility that he was going to agree to this. It was already bad enough that he had let it come this far.

Hurriedly, he grabbed Mason’s arm, pulling him away with him from the group. Mason frowned, shooting Liam a concerned glance. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked with a soft sigh, seemingly worried, once they were out of earshot.

Liam sighed, glancing back towards the group staring at them with frowns on their faces. ‘It’s just…’ he started. ‘I don’t… One month pretending to be in a relationship with Theo Raeken and being in his presence? One whole month?’

‘Okay, okay, hey,’ Mason said reassuringly, drawing Liam’s attention back to him. ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, okay? But just think about this: when it’s over, no Theo Raeken until the end of the school year.’

Liam stayed silent at that, crossing his arms with a frown. He glared towards Theo, thinking about the stupid prank he had done the day before, and honestly, _it did sound tempting_ … He thought. But… ‘A whole month?’ he mumbled, swallowing. ‘Four weeks is long.’

‘Not as long as a year,’ Mason replied, and Liam glanced towards the group and Theo again. ‘And when you win: free pizza!’ Mason chuckled.

Liam stayed silent, biting the inside of his cheek in thought. He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. Mason was right, four weeks were nothing compared to a year. If this was over, he was free of Theo, he wouldn’t bother him anymore. And he was never really the type to turn down a challenge. Surely… Surely he could last that long. Shouldn’t be that hard.

He narrowed his eyes, looking back at Mason with lips pressed together, before he let out a sigh. ‘Okay,’ he said, the word, and the decision he made, only leaving a slightly bitter taste in his mouth. ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’

‘Really?’ Mason asked, sounding hopeful, his eyes widening.

Liam nodded, sighing, before walking back to the group. Mason followed after him, a smile playing on his lips. Liam folded his arms, sighing, before looking at the rest.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Fine,' still not sure what the hell had come over him now.

He watched as his classmates’ faces lit up at the word, a big smile forming on Tracy’s face, and rolled his eyes at the sight.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Okay, that’s… That’s great!’

Liam glanced towards Theo, a slightly shocked look on the other boy’s face that was gone as soon as it came, and Liam wondered if it was ever really there.

‘Do we need to go over the rules again?’ Brett asked. ‘I think those are clear, aren’t they?’

‘Yes,’ Liam managed grumbling, swallowing, suddenly feeling nervous about the whole thing. Because really, it was simple. He’d pretend to date Theo, go on dates with him, talk to him, hang out with him, and do everything real boyfriends would too. He’d do what Mason want, and pretend to get to know Theo in a different way. It would be alright. But he was nervous nonetheless, because this whole thing would be easier if he didn’t have to do it with Theo Raeken, of all people. There was no telling how long he would last with him, without wanting to punch him in the nose, and actually doing it this time. But then… There was one advantage to doing this with Theo, Brett’s words from earlier still ringing in his ears, sounding through in his head. _Whoever falls in love first, loses_. That would be alright. Simple. It was gonna be alright.

*****

‘So, Raeken,’ Liam said with folded arms, at the end of the school day. ‘Seems like I’m stuck with you for the next four weeks.’

Theo smirked. ‘Yeah, so it seems. But you’ll see that it won’t be so bad.’

Liam sighed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms impatiently, as that was something up for debate. ‘Whatever,' he said. 'Let’s just put those stupid jokes away right now and get to it, yeah? I'd never thought I’d say this, but do you have anything in mind of the first date?’ The words leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

Theo grinned, seeming far too happy for Liam, and he grimaced, an impatient feeling settled in his stomach as he just wanted this to be over with. ‘Actually, I do, yeah,’ Theo said.

‘Good,’ Liam managed, the relief at managing to keep his voice friendly and the fact that they could be done with this soon coursing through him. ‘What is it?’

‘It's a surprise,’ Theo chuckled, and Liam sighed, because of course, and his relief that this wouldn't take long fading away slightly. ‘But I’ll pick you up at one tomorrow.’

Impatiently, Liam folded his arms over his chest, his eyebrows raised. ‘Why so early?’ he asked. ‘What are we doing?’

‘Oh... You’ll see,’ Theo smirked, with a casual tone in his voice, that had Liam suck in a sharp breath. ‘It’s a surprise. But you’ll like it.’

Liam let out a breath and shrugged, as he had yet to see that and it wasn’t likely, before Theo stepped past him and walked off in the other direction. Quickly, Liam turned around after him, not feeling like this conversation was over yet, as there was one thing still left unsaid for him. ‘Theo.’

‘Yes?’ Theo turned around, his eyebrows raised, an expectant look on his face as he waited for what Liam had to say.

‘We have to make one thing clear,’ Liam said, his arms crossed, and the tone that he wouldn’t negotiate on this sounding clear in his voice. ‘We may be pretending to date, but no kissing.’

Theo stayed silent for a moment, a serious expression settling on his face as the realization sunk in. ‘No kissing,’ he repeated, implying more than just on the lips, and for the first time ever, Liam saw what it looked like when he wasn’t actually making a joke out of something. He nodded at the words.

‘Okay,’ Theo said in response, 'Promise,' and Liam nodded with a small smile just tugging at the corners of his lips, happy that Theo was so quick to respect his boundaries. It had... Been a while, since his last kiss.

Theo turned away a little then, a small smirk returning to his face. ‘See you tomorrow, Liam,' he said. 'And, you know, I think those were probably the most civil words you’ve ever said to me.’

Liam flushed at that, at the realization, as annoyance washed over him and an underlying feeling of shame settled in his stomach. A frown formed on his face and Theo grinned, before saying goodbye. He was gone then, and Liam clenched his fists at Theo's last stupid, unwanted joke, taking in a deep breath.

 _Only a month_ , he thought to himself. He could do this. He could get through this. It was gonna be easy.

Although the bitter taste in his mouth, and the frantic beating of his heart, said that he was in for the longest month of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! What do you think? :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First date time! This is how it turned out, I hope it's not too boring. I hope you'll enjoy! :)

# ‘Look, I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, I’m just saying that you need to be careful about this.’

‘You’re saying it’s a bad idea,’ Liam replied with a roll of his eyes, as he leaned against the counter and waited for Stiles to get his usual order of coffee ready.

Stiles huffed, looking over his shoulder. ‘Yeah, you know what, I am. And if Lydia was here, she would say exactly the same thing.’

Liam sighed, turning towards him. He knew she would, he could almost hear her voice in his head already. ‘How is Lydia anyway?’ he asked then. ‘I heard from Corey that she was sick the other day.’

‘Yeah,’ Stiles sighed, pushing the first cup of coffee over the counter towards Liam before starting on the rest. ‘But she’s getting better already. I’m going to see her after I’m done for the day.’

Liam smiled, nodding. Lydia and Stiles did have a good relationship, he knew, after getting together after graduation. He liked to have what they had some time, but for now he was kinda done with dating. With the exception of this fake thing, that he had to get through for the month. That didn’t count. It wasn’t real anyway.

‘You know who I saw earlier, though?’ Stiles interrupted his thoughts then.

Liam frowned. ‘Who?’

Stiles turned around, pushing the other coffee cups towards him. ‘Gabe.’

Liam froze, pausing where he was ready to grab the cup. ‘What? He’s back?’

‘Yeah,’ Stiles sighed, leaning over the counter with a sympathetic look on his face. ‘He came in earlier, to get coffee, but he asked about you. Though I’m not sure how friendly he meant it.’

Liam swallowed, suddenly feeling nauseous. He didn’t want to think about it, about what it meant that Gabe was suddenly back in town. And he knew he sure as hell didn’t want to see him again. ‘What did he say?’ he managed, past the lump in his throat, knowing that he could count on Stiles to be honest no matter how ugly the truth was.

‘He wanted to know if he could talk to you,’ Stiles replied slowly. ‘I told him no.’

Liam let out a shaky breath of relief at that, and nodded quietly. ‘Okay. Okay, thank you.’

‘Yeah,’ Stiles said, giving him a sympathetic smile. ‘No problem.’

Liam nodded, tapping his fingers on the counter nervously as he waited for Stiles to finish his last cup of coffee, for his father. He really didn’t want to think about Gabe, about him coming back to town and why, or the possibility that he could run into him and have to talk to him. Just the thought of it made him anxious.

‘Here you go,’ Stiles said then, pushing the last coffee cup towards him. ‘And, you know, if he bothers you, you can always call one of us.’

Liam nodded quietly, giving Stiles a small smile, before paying. ‘Thanks,’ he said, gathering the cups and turning away, walking to the door.

‘Of course,’ Stiles said. ‘Guy was an asshole,’ and Liam let out a little laugh at that, feeling his annoyed anxiousness fading away a little again, before saying goodbye to him and pushing the door open with his shoulder. He stepped outside then, taking the cups of coffee home to his parents.

*****

Liam sighed, checking the time on his phone again. The minutes until the date, until Theo was picking him up, were passing by slowly, and Liam thought that it was safe to say that he had no idea what to wear to a first date with someone you disliked, but had to fake date for a month nonetheless.

He didn’t waste too much time standing in front of his closet to try and figure it out, instead pulling out some clothes he felt comfortable in. ‘Stupid idiot,’ he muttered, grabbing his favorite leather jacket and shrugging it on.

As he walked down the stairs, the loud ringing of the bell reached his ears, cutting through the house, and Liam sighed. He took a deep breath before walking to the front door, letting out a breath upon seeing the silhouette on the other side through the curtains, and opened the door.

‘Theo,’ he said in greeting, giving him a short nod.

‘Hi,’ Theo said with a small smile, before stepping aside a little and gesturing towards the street. ‘Are you ready? Shall we go?’

Liam sighed, stepping outside. ‘Yeah,’ he said, closing the door behind him. ‘Yeah, let’s go,’ before following Theo over the path and onto the street.

Theo lead the way, going right, and Liam caught up with him. Next to each other, they walked to a nearby lunchroom that Liam recognized but never went to, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over to Theo as they did. The boy had a small smile on his face that Liam rolled his eyes at, wondering why it was there, and he couldn’t help but have a few questions popping up inside his head.

As they came to a stop in front of the lunchroom, Liam turned to Theo, with his arms crossed. ‘This, is your surprise?’ he asked, with raised eyebrows.

‘Well, yeah, I didn’t really know what to do for the first day,’ Theo admitted, nodding at the coffeeshop. ‘So I figured this might be a good start, and then maybe we can get ice cream after.’

Liam stayed silent for a moment, averting his gaze and taking a look inside. It did look nice enough, he had to admit, and he could understand that it could be hard to think of something, even if he probably wouldn’t have chosen a lunchroom in that case. Maybe if they stayed here, and he could order a drink and some lunch to busy himself with, he could sit out his time in the forced presence of Theo Raeken, without anyone else around. Though he didn’t really feel the need to get ice cream after that as well.

‘Sure,’ he said, pushing the door open, and being greeted with the smell of coffee, eggs and bacon. ‘Let’s go in.’

Theo nodded and followed in after him, and they walked to a booth in the corner of the shop with sight on the counter and the doors of the kitchen. Liam had to admit, that despite the simple brown tables, it looked nice, and had a very homely feel to it. Suddenly he wondered why he had always just passed by it on the street, when it seemed like such a good place to meet with friends.

He took the seat across from Theo, not meeting his eyes, and instead pulling the menu towards him. He let his eyes wander over the words, over the various lunch options to figure out what kind of food this lunchroom had to offer and choosing something, before looking up to where Theo was looking at him.

‘Do you know what you want?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ Liam said and Theo nodded, ‘Me too,’ before waiting for a waiter to come their way and putting in their orders. Liam waited until their lunch had arrived, taking a sip from his cappuccino and pushing his food around over his plate a little, before he spoke up.

‘So,’ he asked, as he might as well find something to make the time go faster now that they were forced to do everything a couple would. ‘This might be a little bit late, and I guess you know my reasons, from what I asked of you at the end of the month, but why did you agree to this dare?’

Theo’s head shot up, seemingly surprised with the question. ‘Oh!’ he said. ‘Eh, well… I…’ he managed, stuttering, and Liam grinned, as this was the first time that he had seen Theo Raeken at a loss for words, and he thought it was a quite amusing thing to see. He vaguely realized in the back of his mind that his amusement wasn’t completely sincere, but in the moment, it didn’t seem to matter.

‘Well, I don’t know,’ Theo said then, interrupting his thoughts. ‘Nothing ever happens around here, I thought it could be fun.’

Suddenly, Liam’s amusement faded again and he dropped his knife next to his plate, falling back against the booth with a huff. ‘Right,’ he muttered, because of course that was Theo’s reasoning. He was just bored and used him as entertainment. He couldn’t deny that it stung a little.

‘Liam,’ Theo sighed, seeming to understand what he was thinking about, and rubbing his head. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought… Like… I meant that we could just have some fun this month, you know, have a laugh, talk to each other and get to know each other a little bit better, and then maybe when the month is over… Well, we’ll see what happens then!’

‘Right,’ Liam muttered, stabbing into his food with his fork. ‘As if us talking has ever been fun. For either one of us.’

Theo stayed silent, a soft sigh spilling past his lips at that, and Liam glanced up at him. He frowned, realizing that he didn’t agree with Theo about what was gonna happen at the end of the month, as he had specifically asked for him to leave him alone, but he remembered Mason asking him to get to know each other differently and doing this for him, and Liam figured there would be no harm in putting in some effort. It was to make Mason happy after all.

‘Alright,’ he sighed, dropping his fork next to his plate and looking up. ‘Why did you choose this lunchroom for today then?’

Theo looked up, seeming surprised with the question, but a smile formed on his face. ‘I used to come here sometimes with Tracy, Brett and Josh. Though admittedly it’s been a while since Tracy’s been here, it’s just me, Brett and Josh now.’

‘How come?’ Liam asked, taking a bite from his sandwich again.

Theo snorted softly, looking down at his plate as Liam looked up again. ‘She… Had a little flirt with one of the waiters here that she liked. Needless to say, it didn’t end so well. Now she’d rather not come here and see him again.’

Liam let out a laugh at that, surprised by the sudden, funny answer, and shook his head at the reveal with a grin on his face. ‘Oh… My God, that is so like Tracy!’

‘I know!’ Theo laughed, taking a sip from his coffee and his mouth half full with his lunch. Liam sighed, shaking his head before going back to his own lunch, and the smile fading from his face.

‘So,’ he asked. ‘What do you usually do on first dates?’ the slightly mocking curiosity sounding clear in his voice.

Theo frowned. ‘What do you mean? You make it sound like I go on a ton of dates, but that’s not really true,’ he said with a soft laugh.

Liam raised his eyebrows, looking up. ‘Come on, you’ve been in a few relationships,’ he said. ‘And when I saw you getting Marcie’s phone number the other day, I’m wrong? What are you even gonna do with that?’

A blush crept up on Theo’s cheeks at that, making them slightly pink, and his jaw tightened. ‘I don’t know,’ he managed. ‘Right now, nothing probably. I just want to focus on this fake date thing first this month.’

Liam nodded shortly, clearing his throat before he said: ‘That’s… That’s just a great thing to do. I’m assuming you’re gonna let her know that too?’ He didn’t want to find out that he was right about what he had thought earlier, and that Theo was going to play with her feelings in a way that could be hurtful, when it was him that Theo was occupied with this month. He didn’t want to be responsible for that, not when he knew all too well what it felt like when someone did that.

Theo seemed startled at the question, his eyes widened, and he nodded shortly. ‘Yeah… Yeah, of course! I’ll do that.’

Liam stayed silent for a moment, considering Theo’s answer for a while as he bit his lip, before he nodded and a small smile formed on his face, tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘Okay.’

‘Okay.’ A grin appeared on Theo’s face, looking down at his plate before looking back at Liam again. ‘Now what do you say we just finish this lunch now?’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Liam huffed, leaning against the back of the booth and picking up his sandwich again.

They finished the rest of their lunch soon, eating up their food before waiting for a waiter and paying their bill. As they walked outside, Theo waited for Liam before closing the door, and it was as they stepped out onto the street that Theo asked: ‘How about we still get that ice cream now?’

Liam bit his lip, staying silent for a moment, before he shrugged not really caring what Theo thought. ‘Why not?’ he sighed. ‘Who am I to say no to free ice cream?’

Theo chuckled, as they took a right around the corner to the main street. ‘Who said it’d be free?’

Liam’s head shot up at that, giving Theo a pointed look, and he let out a laugh, holding up his hands innocently. ‘Okay, okay, you’re right. I’m responsible for this date.’

‘Good,’ Liam muttered, staring down at his feet on the concrete pavement. ‘And let’s not call it a date, yeah?’

‘Well, it is kinda what it is,’ Theo responded with a grin, but fell silent when Liam shrugged, and didn’t answer. A soft sigh spilled past his lips, and they made their to a good ice cream shop that Theo knew with only minimal conversation. After they’d gotten their ice cream cones and paid for them, a strawberry for Liam and a chocolate for Theo, they strolled to a bench and sat down next to each other. Liam sat back, and enjoyed the nice view of people strolling by, some faster than others, to hurriedly get all the groceries they needed. People watching was something he liked to do as it was kinda calm, just as long as he wouldn’t run into Gabe. The thought of it still made fear and anger burn underneath his skin.

He only tuned in half to listen to Theo’s comments and jokes to keep the conversation going, pointing out people with strange outfits that proved bad taste, and only offering short comments to him in response. He was happy to just sit, and eat his ice cream.

Though when he checked the time on his phone, he was surprised to see how much of it had passed since the beginning of the “date.”

***** 

With a sigh, Liam flung his bag in the corner of the room, where it landed with a thud and slid across the floor to the wall. He let himself fall down on the couch, and at the noise, his mom came out of the kitchen with a towel in her hands.

‘Hey honey,’ she smiled. ‘How was it? Did you have fun with…’

‘Theo,’ Liam finished her sentence, as he pushed himself up a little more. He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It wasn’t really…’ _My thing_ , he wanted to say, as hanging out with Theo Raeken really wasn’t. He was just glad that it was over for now.

Until the next time. It was his turn now after all, he thought.

‘Well, it was a date, wasn’t it?’ his mom asked, interrupting his thoughts. Liam looked up at her, a sigh slipping past his lips. ‘Let’s not call it that,’ he said, giving her a pointed look and a laugh spilling past his lips just as she did, a smirk tugging at his lips.

‘Well, whatever it was, I’m glad to see you out and about again,’ she said. ‘You know, after…’

‘Do not say her name,’ Liam cut her off, before realizing how harsh he sounded and shooting her apologetic look. ‘Sorry. I’d just rather not think about it.’

His mom nodded quietly, a sad smile forming on her face and an understanding look in her eyes at the memories, that had Liam swallow. Quietly, he stood up. ‘I think I’m just gonna go upstairs, I still have some homework to do.’

‘Of course,’ his mom nodded, walking back to the kitchen as Liam opened the door to the hallway. ‘I’ll come and bring you something to drink in a moment, I’m almost finished with this.’

Liam smiled, taking the first few steps up the stairs. ‘Thanks mom. That sounds nice.’ She nodded, and with that he climbed up the stairs, to his room, as he still thought about how he had spent his time that afternoon and was once again surprised by how much later it was than when he had come to the lunchroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... We're back here again, it's been a while. I hope you enjoy it! :)

# Liam thought it was safe to say, that he slightly underestimated all the aspects of their fake relationship. Besides the dates, he was also required to sit with Theo during lunch breaks or hang out with him during free periods, but luckily for him, the rest of their friends were with them as well during those times. Of course their friends had questions and were curious about how it went, and as Theo told the story of everything that went well and Liam interrupted him and corrected him about every fact he got wrong, making Theo chuckle and roll his eyes more than once, they left out their conversation of what he was gonna do with their classmate’s phone number.

Their friends’ reactions were positive ones, happy to hear that it went well for the most part. Liam would lie if he wasn’t was surprised to see how well Mason and Corey got along with Theo, laughing at his jokes as if they didn’t think they were stupid, but he was glad that Brett, Tracy and Josh were there too to offer their own sarcasm as well. But he couldn’t help but notice that Theo’s sarcasm, his teasing and mean comments towards him for whatever reason, seemed to have toned down a bit, despite the fact that his sarcasm was still there. He was still Theo Raeken, after all. No matter if he gave Liam a reason to snap at him or not.

When the bell at the end of lunchbreak suddenly rang, a realization dawned on Liam, his thoughts interrupted, and he jumped up. ‘Shit! I still have to get my books!’

Mason frowned, looking up. ‘You’ll be on time if you hurry. Do you want us to wait for you?’

Liam shook his head, swinging his bag over his shoulder as he already started towards the door. ‘No, no, that’s fine,’ he mumbled. ‘I’ll come to the classroom,’ he said, when a voice interrupted him.

‘I’ll come with you,’ Theo said behind him, and Liam’s head shot up in surprise. ‘What?’ he asked dumbly, but Theo had already stood up and caught up with him, and Liam raised his eyebrows as their friends followed the exchange with triumphant looks on their faces.

‘I’ll come with you,’ Theo repeated, grinning, and Liam sighed, rolling his eyes. ‘Fine! But you better not make us late.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Theo grinned as they walked out of the library, and Liam pressed his lips together tightly, staying silent and only speaking up again when they were on the stairs.

‘You know you don’t have to come with me everywhere right?’ he asked, stepping down the last step. ‘Just because we’re in this fake relationship thing…’

He watched, staying silent, as Theo’s expression turned into one of feigned shock, and raised his eyebrows as Theo slapped his hand over his chest as if Liam’s comment hurt him. ‘What?’ he asked. ‘Are you saying I’m not allowed to walk with my boyfriend to his locker!?’

Liam groaned, stopping dead in his tracks, and looked over at him. ‘You, are not my boyfriend,’ he snapped, starting towards his locker again and coming to a stop in front of it. ‘Not now, and not ever. When this month is over…’

‘I know, I know,’ Theo interrupted him with a sigh, leaning against the lockers on the other side of Liam’s as he dug out his books. ‘It’s the same old story, I’ll leave you alone. But I don’t see why we can’t just make the most of it, now that we’re forced to do this.’

Liam stayed silent for a moment, glancing over at Theo, and remembered his silent promise to himself to do just that, to put in a little effort in this, if only for Mason’s sake. And Theo was right, he was stuck with him for four weeks to come, so fighting it would only make things more annoying.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’m gonna think of a date for this week, alright?’ he said, ignoring the way Theo’s eyes widened in surprise slightly at that. ‘We’re done early on Wednesday, aren’t we? We can do something then. And I was going to town after school today, I need a new shirt. Why don’t you come along?’

Liam wasn’t quite sure why he’d said that, he’d surprised himself with it, and he ignored the way Theo’s eyes lit up for a split second, before regaining composure. ‘Really?’ he asked.

Liam slammed his locker shut, turning towards him with a sigh. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Why not? Now, are you ready? Because if we stay down here, we’re gonna be more than late for class.’

Theo grinned. ‘I’m ready,’ he said, turning and starting towards the stairs again. Liam pressed his books against his chest, following after him with a sigh, and hoped that they weren’t too horribly late. He never liked being reprimanded by the teacher for that reason, with people in his class watching as well.

He swallowed when he walked up to the classroom through the corridor, how full the classroom was through the windows next to the door and how class had already started, and slowed his pace a little, but Theo wasted no time opening the door. Mr. Stephens looked around, his eyebrows raising when he saw them standing in the doorway.

‘Liam, Theo,’ he started. ‘Is there a reason you’re late?’

Liam coughed. ‘I, uh, forgot my books,’ he managed, and Stephens stayed silent for a moment, a disapproving look on his face, before he nodded for them to go in and take a seat.

‘Next time, be on time,’ he said, and Theo grinned and said: ‘We will,’ before walking to the back. Liam couldn’t help but think of the last time Theo was late and got away with it, and how he’d despised him for it then, but now he couldn’t help but feel weirdly grateful to be with him when he was late. It certainly wasn’t a nice experience, but at least there were no consequences. In some weird way, it was almost impressive how Theo managed it.

With a sigh, he walked after Theo to the back of the room, wanting to take a seat next to Mason, but frowned when he found him already sitting next to Corey.

‘Sorry,’ Mason mouthed wordlessly with wide eyes, when he looked around and saw Brett sitting next to Josh, and the table next to Tracy occupied by another classmate. Most tables seemed to be taken already, and there was really only option left.

Liam sighed, dropping his books down on the table next to Theo’s in the middle row, and fell down in his seat. Stephens waited for him to be done before turning around and continuing his class, and Theo smirked and leaned towards him. ‘Looks like you’re stuck with me a little longer now.’

‘Shut up,’ Liam hissed back. ‘I want to pay attention.’

‘As you wish,’ Theo grinned, and straightened his back again, before focusing to take notes in the notebook that was already lying in front of him.

*****

‘So do you know what you are looking for?’ Theo asked, looking up as he browsed through the clothing racks. ‘Something black, maybe?’

Liam glared up at him, from the other side of the rack. ‘I do wear other colors, you know. I think you might be misunderstanding all of this.’

Theo chuckled, looking up. ‘Calm down, now. It was a joke.’

‘Hm,’ Liam hummed, as he wasn’t quite sure he believed him, but didn’t waste his breath answering. He grabbed a few shirts he liked, along with a few jackets, and walked around the clothing rack, brushing past Theo. ‘Come on, we’re going now.’

‘W-What, already?’ Theo sputtered, startled when Liam gave him no time to adjust before making his way to the fitting rooms. Hurriedly, he turned around, scrambling to follow after Liam before he disappeared in a changing room and came to a stop before them as he pulled the curtain shut behind him with a short tug. Theo sighed, looking around awkwardly for a moment, before sinking down in one of the chairs in the space with the changing rooms.

‘I feel like one of those boyfriends who doesn’t like shopping, but has to come along anyway!’ he said to Liam, on the other side of the curtain.

Liam sighed, staying silent for a moment as he pulled his shirt over his head, before he answered: ‘Well, no one forced you. You wanted to come.’

‘Well, yeah, because you invited me. I thought it could be fun,’ Theo muttered, as Liam stayed silent and considered Theo’s answer, checking his shirt in the mirror.

He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand what Theo could want out of this, though Theo had explained that when they got lunch together, and just wanted to get to know each other a little better. Though why he thought this thing, with them together, could be fun when Liam couldn’t even get along with him, he didn’t know.

He considered getting out of there, stepping out of the changing room and showing off the shirt he had on to Theo to learn his opinion, before he thought that that definitely felt like crossing a line of some sort, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on what that was. He didn’t need Theo’s opinions anyway, he could easily choose some new clothes for himself.

Sighing, he pulled his shirt over his head again, deciding he did not like it, but by the third shirt in he had more luck. Liam bit his lip, turning around to the curtain of the changing room. ‘I found one I like!’ he said. ‘I think I’m gonna buy this one.’

He pulled the curtains aside, stepping outside and feeling a bit self-conscious even if he couldn’t tell why, and watched as Theo’s eyes widened and he straightened his back in surprise upon seeing him come out so soon, and took a look at the shirt.

‘What?’ Liam asked, a little harsher than he intended.

‘Uh, it’s nice,’ Theo coughed, clearing his throat and dragging his gaze up to meet Liam’s eyes. ‘You should get it.’

‘I am,’ Liam replied, staring down at Theo and raising his eyes at his weird, tense response. And it was weird, this sudden tense moment when Liam was usually used to having an answer ready, more often not nice than nice, but he sighed and turned around. ‘I’m gonna change back into my own clothes and then we can go.’

‘Sure,’ was the only thing Theo said, his voice wavering a little bit, and Liam pressed his lips together tightly as he heard it, before stepping back into the changing room and pulling the curtain shut behind him resolutely.

*****

‘Really? There?’ Liam asked, looking over at the boy beside him with raised eyebrows.

‘Yes, there,’ Theo chuckled, a grin forming on his face. ‘I was five years old when my mom took me there, and I didn’t know any better. So when five year old me saw a tiny race car that I liked, I just had to take it.’

‘Wow,’ Liam replied, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘If that’s true, you really are dumber than you look.’

Theo snorted, earning himself an unimpressed look from Liam. ‘Well then,’ he said. ‘That’s always nice to know.’

‘Honesty’s the best policy,’ Liam muttered as his voice was laced with sarcasm, his gaze averted towards the ground, and kicked away a small pebble as he thought of the irony in those words. He believed in them, even when others that mattered to him didn’t, and when he had just told Theo that little white lie himself. Theo didn’t look dumb. In fact, Liam thought, the only thing he probably had working for him, were his good looks.

That, and the fact that he seemed to have severely toned down any attempts to get under Liam’s skin.

‘Of course, when the alarm went off and my mom noticed that I wasn’t there anymore, she sprinted out of the store after me,’ Theo continued with a laugh, chuckling and making Liam look up at him again. ‘I’d never seen her run so fast.’

Liam felt his mouth twitching, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips that he resisted. ‘I stand by my point,’ he said, staring ahead at the street. ‘You’re weird.’

‘I was five,’ Theo cut him off with a laugh, looking over at him with a small smile on his face. ‘I bet you were too, at that age.’

‘Nah, was not,’ Liam denied insistently, his eyes finding Theo’s and he jumped, a bit startled as he held Theo’s gaze with wide eyes, until Theo cleared his throat and averted his gaze, staring ahead at the street and focusing back on the conversation again.

‘Yeah, sure you were,’ he chuckled quietly, as they continued down the road, and came to a stop next to a small snack bar. ‘I heard they sell great milkshakes here,’ he said, looking over at Liam and nodding towards it. ‘Wanna get one?’

Liam bit his lip, hesitating. He’d thought they were just gonna go home now, that’s what he always did when he was on his own, and he wanted to get home, get away from Theo for a bit before he had to see him again. But he couldn’t deny that he did crave a drink, and remembered his promise to himself and Mason to put in some effort. Theo did seem a little less of a dick today than usual, and Liam shrugged, sighing. ‘Sure, why not.’

Theo grinned, following him into the snack bar and to the counter, where they ordered a vanilla and a chocolate milkshake for themselves and didn’t have to wait long before they could take them back out again, to the main street.

There, Liam sighed, dragging his gaze back over to Theo. ‘A bead,’ he forced himself to say, after pausing for a moment. ‘I once accidentally got a little bead in my nose. My mom had to take me to the doctor to get it out.’

Theo frowned, raising his eyebrows at the confession. ‘What?’

Liam couldn’t help but smile a little at that, looking up at Theo as he took a sip from his vanilla milkshake to hide it. ‘You asked me what the weirdest thing was that I did when I was five. You know, one of those little iron beads, I played with it and it got stuck in my nose. Don’t ask me how, it just happened.’

Theo stayed silent for a moment, his eyes wide, before he snorted. ‘Oh, wow,’ he managed, a laugh spilling past his lips before he took a sip from his chocolate milkshake. ‘See, I told you so. Kids do dumb things. And now we’re even.’

‘Hmm, yeah,’ Liam mumbled, looking up. ‘Yeah, I guess so,’ he said, the first genuine smile appearing on his face that afternoon that he didn’t bother to hide, despite the fact that it still felt strange to be doing that with Theo Raeken of all people. ‘Although at least I didn’t accidentally steal something,’ he muttered then, throwing his empty milkshake cup away as a sputtering sound at the accusation slipped past Theo’s lips, continuing their conversation. ‘Hey! I…’

It was then, however, that a movement, something familiar moving in the corner of his eye, caught Liam’s attention and his head snapped up, already grabbing Theo’s arm and dragging him along with him in an alleyway. ‘In here!’

Theo stumbled after him, startled by Liam’s harsh pull on his arm. ‘What the…’ he started, too shocked to say much of anything until they were standing in the dark, hidden from sight by everyone on the main street. ‘Liam, what the hell!?’

‘Ssh!’ Liam snapped, interrupting him harshly and taking a step back to peer around the corner. Theo let out a sigh, a wave of impatience at Liam’s sudden ridiculous behavior washing over, and he crossed his arms, watching the sight before him with raised eyebrows. ‘Would you, please, maybe mind telling me what the hell is going on right now?’

Liam swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as the embarrassment of Theo seeing him in this moment washed over him, before he opened them again and gestured him to come closer. Theo sighed, stepping forward, until he stood beside him and Liam nodded towards the main street.

‘You see that girl?’ he asked, nodding towards a short girl with dark who was looking around in confusion, as if she was still looking for Liam after having spotted him. ‘That’s Hayden. My ex-girlfriend.’

Theo raised his eyebrows, looking down at the boy beside him with a harsh comment burning on his tongue, but he swallowed it when he saw the tense look on Liam’s face and sighed, a sympathetic feeling washing over him. ‘Well then why are we hiding from her?’ he asked instead. ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to just say hi?’

Liam stayed silent for a moment, his jaw tense and his cheeks burning upon letting Theo see him like this, embarrassment washing over him, before he dared looking up. ‘No,’ he said, his jaw clenched. ‘Not now.’

‘Okay,’ Theo replied softly, after a moment of realization that Liam wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t feel like he could do anything else. ‘Will you tell me what happened?’

Liam clenched his jaw at that again, his head snapping over at Theo as he looked at him with what felt like fire in his eyes. ‘That’s none of your business!’ he snapped, and a soft, tired sigh at the situation escaped Theo’s mouth.

Liam stared up at him, his jaw still clenched, before a soft breath escaped his lips as the severity of his reaction dawned on him, and he took a slow step back. He sighed, averting his gaze as a wave of shame washed over him.

What was the matter with him? Why would he react like that, he wondered, as he noticed how small this alleyway was. Why was it so small anyway?

With a sigh, he dragged his gaze up to meet Theo’s eyes, and he frowned. Why were Theo’s eyes so green anyway? Who thought it was a good idea to make them look like a bloody sunny forest?

He swallowed, harshly pushing away the sudden, unwanted thought that had come out of nowhere, and turned away. Theo narrowed his eyes at him, taking a deep breath as he pushed himself off of the wall, and pulled his shirt straight again as he shot a look in Liam’s direction. _Why would he react so defensively to that_ , he thought. When it was only a simple question about Liam’s ex-girlfriend?

But then, Liam was always defensive, wasn’t he?

Theo sighed, narrowing his eyes as he looked towards Liam. Maybe there was something else, something Liam wasn’t telling people. If there was, then maybe someday he could.

‘Let’s go,’ Liam said flatly then, turning around and interrupting Theo’s thoughts. ‘It’s okay. I need you to take me home.'

Theo took in a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists and pushing away the sudden wave of irritation at the lack of an apology, before he said: ‘Sure. Come on.’

Liam nodded shortly, leading him out of the alleyway and back to the parking lot to the car, as they walked beside each other in silence.

*****

‘So how did it go?’ Mason asked, as Liam walked next to him through the corridor at school the next day. Liam furrowed his brows, looking up at his best friend with a frown, and Mason sighed, giving him a push against his shoulder.

‘Don’t think I didn’t notice you two leaving together yesterday!’

Liam froze, stopping dead in his tracks, and kept his eyes on the floor for a moment longer before looking up and meeting Mason’s expectant gaze, already knowing the turn their conversation was gonna take as he thought back on the events of the day before. He coughed. ‘Oh. Yeah. That. We went shopping together.’

He watched in silence as a wide grin spread across Mason’s face, wishing that he could just skip this conversation altogether if he thought about the direction that it was headed into. He’d have to tell him though, Mason knew him well enough to know that something was up.

‘Serious? Well, how did it go?’ Mason asked excitedly, happy to hear that they spent more time together. ‘Did you have fun?’

Liam sighed, looking down at his feet as they strolled further. ‘Well, yeah, it was fine,’ he muttered, shrugging. ‘At first anyway. I bought a new shirt, and we had milkshakes.’

Mason nodded slowly, looking over at him. ‘Okay. Okay, well, that sounds nice enough. So then what…’

‘We ran into Hayden,’ Liam cut him off, stopping in his tracks and looking over at him with a serious expression.

Mason stayed silent, his frown deepening as the realization dawned on him. He sighed. ‘Okay. Okay, well, that’s not ideal, but surely…’

‘Ran into her, is probably a big word,’ Liam interrupted him, clenching his hands into fists at his sides embarrassedly as he willed himself to go on. Mason stayed silent, his eyes widening a bit as Liam relayed the story of how he pulled Theo into an alleyway, snapping at him when he asked a simple question.

‘What? Why?’ he asked then, his jaw dropped a little at the confession.

Liam shrugged, as they strolled further along a little again. ‘I don’t know, I… I guess I got nervous when I saw her,’ he managed, forcing the words past the lump in his throat. He looked up, looking over at his best friend. ‘Look, Mason,’ he started, biting his lip in thought. ‘I’m trying, okay? I am. I know you get sick of me and Theo fighting, although your method of improving that isn’t exactly how most people would do it.’

Mason snorted, letting out a chuckle, and Liam laughed before turning serious again. ‘But I promised you, and myself, to make a little effort. But I’m just not sure I’m ready for… Anything serious quite so soon just yet.’

‘I know,’ Mason replied, letting out a little sigh. ‘And no one is asking you too,’ he continued as he looked over at Liam, the sincerity clear in his eyes. ‘I’m just glad you’re putting in some effort. That’s already a hell of an improvement of what it used to be.’

Liam chuckled, staring ahead even as the words left a bitter taste on his tongue. ‘Yeah. Sure. It is, isn’t it?’

Mason grinned, pushing him in the side and opening his mouth to reply, when he was interrupted by a voice behind them before he could.

‘Hey Liam, Mason, wait up!’ Theo called, catching up with them and walking beside them, Brett, Tracy and Josh following behind him. ‘How are you doing?’

Liam raised his eyebrows, staring at Theo suspiciously with the events of the day before still harsh and loud in the back of his mind. He knew it must’ve looked crazy to him. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘What?’ Theo laughed. ‘Am I not allowed to say hi to my fake dating… Boyfriend?’

Liam shrugged, avoiding his gaze as he stopped himself from snapping at Theo for using that word this time. ‘I guess. But…’

Theo sighed, looking over at him. ‘Liam, look, I don’t know what happened yesterday. I don’t need to know now, I didn’t mean to be intrusive. But… If you ever want to tell me, you can.’

Liam’s cheeks heated at that, his heart beating fast in his chest at the unexpected comment, and he stayed silent, looking over at the other boy with a frown.

He hadn’t expected an apology from the boy after what happened yesterday, or anything like that, when Liam knew that he was actually the one who should apologize to Theo for acting crazy and snapping at him, but Theo still did it.

Liam stared up at him, and how he seemed sincere, and for the first time he felt that maybe he could trust to do that. ‘Okay,’ he managed, clearing his throat. ‘Okay, yeah. Sure.’

Theo nodded, giving him a small smile, before averting his gaze and walking further. Liam swallowed, keeping his gaze at the ground as Tracy stepped forward when it stayed silent. ‘So,’ she started quietly in the otherwise silent hallway. ‘Isn’t anyone going to tell me what that was about?’ she asked, with a curious smirk on her face.

Theo let out a sigh, looking up at her. ‘We went shopping yesterday,’ he said shortly, as Tracy’s eyes widened a bit at the comment, before disappointment settled on her face as she realized that Theo wasn’t going to continue. ‘So… That’s a no then?’ she tried.

‘Yeah,’ Theo replied shortly, the irritation visible in his eyes. ‘That’s a no.’

Tracy stayed silent, biting her lip, and Liam let out a shaky breath at the exchange, staring down at the floor with heated cheeks. He ignored Mason pushing him in the side, proudly and triumphantly to get a reaction out of him after Theo not only letting him know that he could tell him what happened, but also sticking up for him. Liam didn’t know what to think of it and didn’t respond, even if it lifted some of the weight off his shoulders and made something flutter weirdly in his stomach. He ignored it, though his head snapped up when a voice behind them called for them to stop.

‘Theo! Wait up!’

Liam paused, looking over to see Marcie from their class walking behind them, a smile on her face and her dark blonde hair flowing behind her.

‘Hey,’ Theo greeted, giving her a smile in return. ‘What’s up? Do you have English now too?’

‘No,’ Marcie smiled, stepping closer to him. ‘I’ve got math in a moment. But I was wondering if… You were free after school.’

Theo’s smile faltered for a moment at the question before it returned, and Liam could feel the sudden tension that had settled in the air as their group watched the exchange between him and Marcie, standing around them. The thought of the conversation he’d had with Theo the week before, where he asked him not to hurt her, popped up in his head. He guessed now he would see if Theo would keep his word.

‘Uh,’ Theo started, shooting a glance in Liam’s direction. ‘Yeah, I am. But…’

‘Cool,’ Marcie laughed quietly, brushing her hand through her hair as she shot him a bright smile. ‘Because I was wondering if you, uhm… Wanted to get something to drink then.’

Theo stayed silent for a moment, glancing nervously at Liam before looking back at her, and Liam couldn’t help but feel there was only one way this was gonna end. It was obvious, what she was doing, though she couldn’t get what she wanted. Liam bit his lip, ready to gesture to his friends to move on so she didn’t have to have this talk in front of an audience, when Theo continued.

‘Look, Marcie,’ he sighed, his eyes meeting hers. ‘Another time I would probably love to. But… I don’t think I can right now,’ he said, looking over at Liam over her shoulder.

She followed his gaze, to where she met Liam’s eyes, and sighed. ‘So it is true then,’ she mumbled, crossing her arms and biting her lip with a disappointed look clear in her eyes.

Theo frowned, putting his hand up against the lockers to lean against it. ‘What is?’

Marcie looked up, the fierce, pointed look in her blue eyes replacing the softer one that had been there a moment ago. ‘You’re dating Liam Dunbar.’

Liam froze, a choked sound escaping his lips as he and his friends around him turned around to stare back at her. Theo frowned. ‘What?’

Marcie sighed, taking in a breath before she looked up at Theo. ‘You’re dating Liam. Most of the people in our year are talking about it.’

It stayed silent for a moment, before Theo sighed and straightened his back, glancing towards the rest of the group for a moment as they made their way back to them. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘You’ve almost got it right.’

Marcie raised her eyebrows at his vague comment, pausing for a moment before she asked: ‘Will you tell me the part that I’ve got wrong then? The part that we’ve all got wrong?’

Theo let out a breath, taking a look at Liam to check if he was okay with this, and felt the eyes of all of his friends on him.

‘You’re right,’ he started. ‘We are dating. But it’s more like… A bet. That will be over at the end of the month.’

Marcie stayed silent, her frown deepened as she tried to understand what Theo said, and Liam could see the questions she had in her eyes. ‘A bet,’ she repeated disbelievingly. ‘That is… Really ridiculous.’

Theo said nothing, his eyes widening for just a moment, before he snorted. ‘You’re right,’ he laughed, nodding. ‘It is a little. But we’re both doing it for our own reasons.’

Marcie bit her lip, her arms crossed. ‘I’m not even gonna ask,’ she commented.

Theo sighed, looking regretful as he stepped closer to her. ‘Marcie, I’m sorry,’ he started. ‘But…’

‘Never mind,’ Marcie interrupted him, as Liam could see the turmoil in her eyes, and she didn’t know whether she had to laugh or be angry about this. ‘I’m curious to see what the rest of our class will think about this.’

Theo’s head snapped up, startled. ‘Please, don’t…’

‘Don’t worry, Theo,’ she laughed, cutting him off before he had a chance to finish his sentence. ‘I won’t make a big deal out of it.

Theo nodded, a breath of relief visibly escaping his lips. Liam narrowed his eyes, following the exchange between him and their classmate.

‘And…’ she smiled, turning away a little already. ‘Maybe I’ll talk to you again after the month is over.’

Theo’s eyes widened in surprise, clearing his throat, and Liam felt his cheeks heating up. He narrowed his eyes at the girl, watching after her as she walked away.

‘Well,’ Tracy said then, interrupting the silence between them. ‘That was something.’ With a smirk she looked over at Theo, quietly wondering what he would say about Marcie’s offer.

He sighed, shooting a glance towards Liam before looking back at her, walking past her towards the stairs. ‘Let’s just go to class, okay?’ he asked, a look in his eyes that willed her to stay silent on the matter. She sighed, following after him.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Liam mumbled to Mason at the back of the group, who snorted softly at the comment, and shot a curious look between him and the slightly taller boy at the front.

*****

‘So, would you mind telling me where we’re going?’ Theo asked.

Liam glanced towards him from the driver’s seat, before turning his attention back to the road and driving onto a smaller one, taking a right turn. ‘That’s for me to know, and for you to find out,’ he responded, as he drove on.

Theo chuckled, reaching forward to turn up the volume of the radio even as Liam glared at him. ‘You’re right there…’ he mumbled, straightening his back again and leaning against his car seat. It wasn’t long, however, before their destination came into view, and Theo sucked in a breath. ‘Mini-golf!? We’re going mini-golfing?’

Liam glanced toward him, steering onto the parking lot. ‘Well, yeah. I am capable of coming up with original stuff, you know.’

‘I didn’t doubt that,’ Theo smirked, earning himself a push against his shoulder from Liam before he killed the engine.

‘Shut up,’ he said, opening his car door and climbing out.

In the parking lot, he stood still for a moment as he waited for Theo, taking in a deep breath of fresh air and trying to calm a bit, before Theo walked around the car and caught up with him.

‘You ready?’ he asked, waiting for Liam to nod before he smiled and they walked to the little shop with the counter to rent their minigolf clubs.

‘Two players?’ the guy behind the counter with a name tag that read Louis asked, and gave them what they needed. ‘Have fun.’

‘Thank you,’ Theo replied, smiling, before they turned around and made their way to the first course. Liam followed after the taller boy, biting his lip, and put his minigolf club on the ground to lean on it as he looked up at Theo. ‘You can go first.’

‘Ah,’ Theo grinned triumphantly, and placed his little ball behind the colorful line that was assigned as the start of the course. ‘I was hoping you would say that. You see, I’m actually really good at this…’

Liam rolled his eyes, a groan escaping his lips at Theo mid-sentence. ‘Oh my God, I was afraid you were gonna do this. Just stop bragging and start!’

Theo smirked, flashing him a bright grin that took Liam by surprise and had his heart skipping a beat. He ignored it, giving Theo a pointed look. ‘As you wish,’ he laughed, taking a swing at his ball with the golf club.

Liam watched as it rolled away over the course, only just hard enough to get over the little hill in the middle, only for it to come to a stop shortly after. He let out a soft snort, hiding his laugh behind his hand, as Theo had said that he was so good at this. He had yet to see it.

With a sigh, he kept score for Theo on the little sheets that Louis had given them for the game, and met Theo’s eyes as he looked up. Theo frowned. ‘You can laugh all you want,’ he said, letting Liam know that he had seen him. ‘But I have yet to see you play.’

‘Seriously,’ Liam started, tightening his grip around the golf club. ‘At this rate, beating you isn’t gonna be hard. Just try to use as few swings as possible, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Theo chuckled, walking further down the course to his ball, and hitting it closer towards the hole again.

Liam couldn’t help but frown, as he watched the other boy play. He couldn’t help but notice how he felt the atmosphere change between them, grow a little more relaxed, and grew a little more relaxed himself as well even as he tried not think about it. Because he didn’t want it, didn’t want to think about the possibility of even having a remotely good time with Theo Raeken of all people. He didn’t want it, would continue to not think about it and let the time of this month pass him by. And yet here he was, laughing at him, even if it was just to mock Theo. It was terrifying and absolutely infuriating, all at the same time.

‘Hey!’ Theo shouted then, interrupting his thoughts and he jumped. ‘It’s your turn now!’

Liam took in a deep breath, taking a look at the course and saw that Theo’s ball was in the hole already. ‘Right,’ he muttered, straightening his back and placing his little, blue-colored ball on the ground behind the line. Theo stood next to the course, glancing towards him when he looked up, and with the absolute most concentration despite his slightly shaking fingers, Liam took a swing at the ball. He watched in silence as it went over the hill.

*****

They played until the last course together, and it wasn’t until the fifth course that Theo finally came close to Liam's score, still not passing him by completely.

‘I can’t believe you said you were so good at this!’ Liam exclaimed, jokingly, laughing loudly at him. ‘Now you see what all that bragging of yours leads to!’

‘Yeah, yeah, just shut up, and watch me win!’ Theo shot back, taking place behind the line and leaned forward slightly to swing the ball over the course in concentration.

The last course, was the hardest one of all. It went upwards a little bit, and in the middle there was a small maze you had to guide your ball through to lead him to the hole that was on the other end.

Liam had been frustrated with how many tries it took him to complete the course, severely lowering his score. He could only hope that Theo would need just as much as swings, making him take second place again.

They had both been competitive during their game, both trying their hardest to beat the others and get their ball in the hole with as little swings as possible, and Liam was satisfied to say he was winning. They’d played loud as well, shouting at each other that they were gonna win as they both tried to prove they were right, and they had both gotten a warning that they would almost be asked to leave if they quiet down their competitive yelling a little bit. They’d been more quiet for a few minutes after that, before their match started all over again.

Despite that, Liam felt that this was different than any other fight they’d had before. He didn’t pay attention to it, just pushed the thought far away in his mind, and told himself that he was only here to wait until his time was over.

‘If you still want to win now, you’re gonna need a miracle,’ he told Theo, shooting him a challenging look when Theo looked up.

‘Ssh,’ he hissed. ‘I need to concentrate.’

A soft snort bubbled past Liam’s lips, leaning on his slightly too short golf club, and he watched with raised eyebrows as Theo gave his ball a little push, guiding it through the maze.

‘That counts as another swing,’ he commented, quietly, despite knowing that it would throw Theo off.

Theo stayed silent, his only response coming as a glare in Liam’s direction as he willed him to be silent, and took the next shot.

Liam saw how complicated it was for Theo to get the ball through the maze. With each new little maze he gave the ball another push, and Liam could see it adding to his amount of swings and lowering his score. With a sigh, he kept score for the other boy.

‘Come on,’ he muttered, a bored tone sounding in his voice. ‘You’re almost there.’

‘Are you bored, Liam?’ Theo asked quietly as he took the best position for his next swing, not looking up and letting Liam know that he wasn’t really looking for an answer.

‘No…’ he mumbled in response, frowning.

Theo stayed silent, hitting his ball softly, until it reached the end of the maze and fell into the hole with a soft sound. A bright, triumphant grin spread across his face, taking Liam by surprise, and he looked up. ‘See!?’ he exclaimed, triumphantly. ‘I told you I was good at this.’

‘Oh, well I think that maze took me a lot less time to get through than you did,’ Liam replied dryly, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.

‘Details, Liam, details,’ Theo said with a smirk, looking up. ‘What’s my score?’

‘Not in this case,’ Liam replied. ‘You lost,’ he said, passing Theo the little note with his score. Theo’s eyes widened a bit, taking the note from him and looking down at it, his eyes wandering over the letters.

‘What?’ he started, taking a look at the score. ‘But I never lose!’

Liam frowned at the comment, Theo’s implication of being better than everyone not sitting right with him. ‘You did now,’ he replied, colder than he had actually intended. ‘Check out my score.’

Theo stayed silent, studying Liam’s score before he looked up and nodded. ‘You’re right. Can’t fight what’s right there black and white.’

Liam bit his lip, studying Theo’s face with narrowed eyes, but he didn’t find any more signs there that Theo wasn’t pleased with the outcome. He stood still for a moment, wondering if Theo only said this to keep the current peace between them or if he actually meant it, and wondering what they should do now, before Theo interrupted his thoughts.

‘Come on,’ he said, nodding towards the shop. ‘I lost, so I have to treat you to a drink.’

Liam looked up. ‘We didn’t make those rules.’

‘I know,’ Theo chuckled. ‘But we’re headed that way anyway to return our golf clubs. Why not make something of it?’

Liam sighed, nodding and giving in to Theo’s suggestion, seeing no reason to reject it instead. He followed after Theo towards the counter with his golf club and ball in his hand, and only gave up on insisting that he paid for his own drink after it almost turned into a fight right in front of Louis. It was bad enough that Theo wouldn’t let him pay for it, the feeling that he owed him would surely never fade. He didn’t want to feel like he owed Theo anything, and he didn’t need to add embarrassing himself in public to that as well.

They took a table in the little shop then, grabbing their drinks and finishing them with as peaceful conversation as they could manage. Liam took a few looks out the window, to the golf course where he could admit to himself that he had actually had fun, and they shot a few bickering questions and comments back and forth before they were done.

After that, they left the shop and wandered back past the courses to the car, on the parking lot.

‘How did you like it?’ Liam asked, looking up at the boy beside him.

Theo smirked. ‘I feel like it’s hard to top any date now,’ he said, earning himself a push from Liam. ‘Shut up.’

They climbed in the car, Liam behind the steering wheel, and after he started the car he slowly drove away from the parking lot to the main road. It was true, in some weird way, he’d had fun, even if he wouldn’t say it. And when Theo reached for the car radio again to turn on the most obnoxious music, this time, Liam only tried half as hard to stop him as before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think! Comments make my day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam warms up to Theo? I think that's it??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! :)

# ‘Have we decided what movie we’re gonna watch?’ Tracy asked, falling down on the couch with the remote in her hand.

Carefully, Mason put the bowl with popcorn on the coffee table and looked up, to the screen where the Netflix homepage was still showing. ‘I don’t think so.’

Tracy nodded slowly, looking around their group in the living room. ‘That’s gonna take a while then, probably. Anyone got any suggestions?’

Liam sighed, pulling his legs up under him on the couch until he got comfortable, and stayed silent as the others argued for their favorite movies. He knew, right from the moment that Josh suggested they should do a movie night all together, that it would end up chaotic like this. And telling his friends that his parents were out on Friday night turned out to be an even bigger mistake, as he did so against his better knowledge.

So when Tracy decided she’d had enough of the arguing and yelled out over everyone that they would be watching Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Liam let out a breath of relief. It was a generally good movie and, during a movie, his friends mostly wouldn’t talk.

He leaned against the back of the couch, letting himself relax, until he noticed Mason and Corey taking a seat on the couch next to Tracy and Josh in the single chair across from them, which meant that Brett and Theo would be sitting next to him. He looked up, catching Brett smirking at him as he sunk down on the other end of the couch.

Theo let himself fall down on the middle with a content sigh, popcorn bowl on his lap, and a little too close for Liam’s liking.

Groaning internally, Liam shuffled to the side of the couch as far as he could, leaning against it, and tried his best to ignore Theo next to him with his eyes fixated on the screen. Slowly he found that it worked, as the movie playing on the screen took up all his attention, and he forgot about Theo and Brett pulling a nasty trick on him on purpose. It was clearly just a joke from his friends, something to force him and Theo closer together.

It wasn’t until halfway through the movie that one of them spoke up again, and Liam looked over his shoulder at him as Theo asked: ‘Should I all go make us some drinks?’

It remained silent for a moment, Tracy hitting the pause button for the movie, before they turned to him. ‘Sure!’ she said. ‘All that popcorn kinda makes you want one, doesn’t it?’

Theo chuckled, standing up. ‘Right,’ he laughed, making his way over to the kitchen after checking with everyone what they wanted. Liam stared after him, watching him as he walked away, and it wasn’t until Theo had disappeared out of sight that Tracy spoke up, studying him with a curious smirk on her face.

‘So, Liam,’ she started in amusement, making Liam jump a little. With his shoulders tense, knowing that this could be nothing good, he turned to her with raised eyebrows. ‘How’s it going so far?’ Tracy grinned. ‘You changing your mind about Theo yet?’

Liam bit his lip, growing a little annoyed with Tracy for prying about their bet so much, and looked towards Mason. His best friend shot him a sympathetic look and shook his head softly, signaling to him that he didn’t have to get into it if he didn’t want to, but Liam sighed. He looked back from Mason to Tracy, recognizing her enthusiasm as a genuine interest in how things were going, but still intending to give her a mostly low-key answer to not give away too much. He didn’t think Tracy needed to know too much about it.

‘It’s going fine,’ he managed. ‘We’ve made it through a couple of dates already.’

‘Oh?’ Tracy asked with a smile, raising her eyebrows as she leaned forward. ‘And what’s that like?’

Liam took in a deep breath, looking over at her. ‘It’s going fine enough, really,’ he said. ‘Last week we went mini-golfing, and I won, so there’s that.’

Tracy’s eyes sparkled happily and Liam let out a soft sigh, thinking back on their mini-golfing which he had indeed won, much to his pleasure, and after which Theo seemed to have really turned down any attempts to get under his skin. Liam still wasn’t really too sure why, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

As he looked past Tracy towards Mason and Corey, they stared back at him with impressed looks on their faces, and Tracy grinned. ‘So, you are getting along a little better already then?’ she asked.

Liam bit his lip, clenching his hands into fists by his sides a little as he thought that now she was getting a little too nosy, before they were interrupted by Josh who was starting to agree with him. He let out a groan, grabbing a cushion from his chair and throwing it towards his friend. ‘Jesus, T, leave him alone! Enough with the interrogating already.’

Tracy snorted, laughing as the pillow hit her against her shoulder and she raised her hands in defense. ‘Okay, okay, point taken!’ she exclaimed. ‘I just thought it was going better, because you let him wander around in your kitchen all by himself.’

Liam paused, at her words. He stared at Tracy with wide eyes as her words hit him and realized she was right, before his gaze wandered over to the kitchen where Theo was indeed alone right now, and could be doing God knows what.

Within a moment he’d stood up, walking over to the kitchen as he heard Brett, Josh and Tracy snickering behind him and felt Mason and Corey’s gazes on him burning in the back of his head. Hurriedly, he walked into the kitchen, only to be stopped as he nearly bumped into Theo lingering near the doorway to the living room.

Theo chuckled, looking up. ‘Woah. Careful there,’ he grinned, making Liam’s cheeks heat up and a hot feeling spreading through him.

‘Right,’ he managed, mumbling. He avoided Theo’s eyes as he looked down at the floor and stepped into the kitchen. ‘I was just coming to look what was taking so long.’

It was a lie, he’d felt the need to get away from Tracy’s interrogating and Brett’s smirking like he was watching some awesome theater show and Mason’s regretful looks for starting this for a moment, and he didn’t really trust Theo alone in his house. Still, he noticed the irony of Theo being the one he escaped to.

‘Sorry,’ Theo chuckled, opening the fridge again. ‘It’s my first time being here, I was just looking where the glasses were.’

Liam nodded, silently, as he leaned against the kitchen counter on the other side of where Theo was making their drinks. ‘I could’ve told you,’ he commented then quietly as he crossed his arms, not sure why he said it.

‘Well, I found them now,’ Theo mumbled, finishing the last drink for their other friends before he turned to Liam. ‘What do you want?’

‘Uh…’ Liam paused for a moment, checking the refrigerator to see what they had, before pulling out the bottle of cola. ‘This’ll be fine.’

Theo nodded, smiling, and Liam took his place against the counter again as he waited for Theo to finish. He stayed silent for a moment, hesitating, before remembering his promise to himself and Mason to put in some effort and forced himself to speak up and make conversation. ‘You know,’ he muttered. ‘Tracy’s actually got some pretty amazing taste in movies.’

Theo chuckled, unphased by Liam’s quiet voice as he put the bottle back in the fridge. Liam bit his lip, avoiding Theo’s gaze. It felt weird, talking like this, and he wasn’t completely sure how well he was doing or that he was able to not snap at Theo, but he had to admit at least to himself through gritted teeth that it wasn’t completely horrible like he thought.

‘Yeah, I know she can be a handful, but once you get to know her, Tracy’s pretty amazing over all,’ Theo responded, with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. ‘She’s got pretty good taste in everything actually, movies, music, places to go out, you name it.’ He looked up, grinning. ‘She’s kinda like a sister to me.’ He paused for a moment, thinking over what he said. ‘Well, besides my actual sister of course.’

Liam raised an eyebrow, hiding his surprise at the comment. ‘Really?’ he asked, unable to stop his smirk from forming on his face. ‘I wasn’t aware that that was what your relationship was.’

‘Well…’ Theo sighed, looking up with a frown on his face that made it clear to Liam that he’d rather not talk about this. ‘It wasn’t always,’ he continued, in a quieter voice. ‘It used to be different.’

Liam flushed at that, staring down at the floor. ‘Oh…’ he mumbled, knowing that that somehow shouldn’t surprise him.

‘But that was years ago, it’s different now,’ Theo interrupted his thoughts then, noticing Liam’s reaction as he picked up a few of the glasses that he could carry. ‘We’re just friends now, we talked it over, and she feels the same way. Can you take the rest?’ he asked, changing the subject and nodding towards the glasses right as Brett’s voice from the living room yelled: ‘Are you ladies done talking in there or are you gonna make us wait even longer!?’

Theo snorted, yelling something back to him, but Liam didn’t listen to him as he picked up the rest of the glasses. He felt a little taken aback by Theo’s confession and his sudden change of topic.

Lost in his thoughts, thinking of their semi-normal conversation for the first time until Theo said that, he followed the other boy into the living room, holding onto the glasses a little tighter than necessary before putting them on the table. Now he wished that conversation had never happened.

Everyone liked Theo Raeken, right? Liam was still wondering what it was, what that one thing could possibly be that he had that made people like him, though now he found himself not so eager to find out, he thought reluctantly as he sat back down on the couch next to Theo, and they continued watching the movie.

*****

Liam was reluctant about inviting Theo to his house again. It had been fine with everyone else there, he thought as the rest of his friends were leaving for the night, but he would feel more comfortable if they did the rest of their ‘dates’ somewhere else. Especially after tonight. He couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, but knew he shouldn’t be surprised.

As they stepped outside to say goodbye for the night, Tracy turned to Liam with a serious expression on her face.

‘So this was fun,’ she said. ‘Maybe we could do it again some time? It’s kinda funny that it took us this bet to start hanging out.’

Liam chuckled, nodding. He didn’t really want to think about the bet right now, or talk about it with her, but he couldn’t help but feel that this was her apologizing for her questioning earlier, in her own way. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘We’ll think about it.’

Tracy nodded, giving him a smile, before turning and walking over to Brett standing on the street at the end of the front yard.

Josh followed, stopping in front of Liam with his hands in his pockets. ‘Sorry again for Tracy being so nosy,’ he muttered. ‘Sometimes she just doesn’t notice when she makes people uncomfortable.’

Liam chuckled, shrugging as he shot a look towards Tracy. ‘It’s fine,’ he replied honestly, knowing that a part of the deal was that their friends kept an eye on them, sort of checked the progress. ‘I think she just sort of apologized in her own way,’ he said, happy that Josh turned out to be a lot more okay than he always thought.

Josh nodded, smiling, and mumbled an ‘Okay,’ before joining his friends at the end of the path. Liam turned around, to where Mason, Corey and Theo were still waiting for him.

Theo stepped forward, a grin on his face. ‘We’ll still talk this weekend, probably,’ he smirked. ‘If I’m not mistaken, it’s my turn to choose a date now.’

Liam gritted his teeth, staring at him. ‘Tell me about it,’ he muttered, a wave of annoyance washing over him at Theo’s happy mood. He sighed, looking up. ‘Just… Can we have day off tomorrow, please?’ he managed. ‘I have some other things I need to do.’

Mainly needing one day without Theo, he thought. Maybe he could pay Scott a visit, down at the tattoo shop.

Theo stayed silent for a moment, chewing on his lip as he studied Liam’s face. What he saw there was, apparently, enough to replace his smile with a serious look in his eyes and he nodded, slightly surprised. ‘Yeah,’ he started. ‘Yeah, of course. Then I’ll just text you and we do something on Sunday.’

Liam let out a breath of relief, nodding as he fumbled with his hands. ‘Sure,’ he said, feeling oddly thankful, a wave of gratitude hitting him, at Theo for agreeing with him. He hadn’t expect him to do it, but he was grateful all the same.

Then the smirk was back, and Liam sighed. Theo chuckled, already starting towards the street where his friends were growing impatient. ‘I’ll see you Sunday then,’ he said, giving Liam a salute before he turned around. Liam rolled his eyes, stepping back inside and not waiting for Theo to disappear out of sight before turning to Mason and Corey. Mason stared at him with wide, questioning eyes, a hopeful look on his face. ‘That wasn’t so bad, right?’ he asked hopefully.

Liam shrugged, closing the front door. ‘It was alright,’ he said honestly, looking over at his friends. ‘Shall we do another movie?’

Mason bit his bottom lip, seemingly disappointed with Liam’s quick answer, but Liam ignored it with a sting in his chest.

‘Sure,’ Mason managed then, the three of them walking back to the living room. Liam grabbed the remote from the coffee table where Tracy had left it, settling down in front of the TV to turn on their favorite comedy movie they made sure to watch at least once every movie night. Mason sunk down on the smaller couch on the side of the room with Corey, crawling up against him and speaking up again just as the movie started.

‘I know you… You probably don’t want to talk about it,’ he started carefully, looking over at Liam. ‘But I gotta ask Tracy’s question. Are you changing your mind about Theo a little yet?’

Liam paused, his hand on the remote control as he turned towards his best friend.

‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know some of it, but why do you actually dislike him so much?’ Mason asked carefully then. ‘I mean, he doesn’t treat you wrong, right? You know, aside from the pranking?’

Liam swallowed, sitting frozen on the couch as he looked at Mason and frantically searched his brain for an answer that wouldn’t give away too much. ‘You know…’ he started, fumbling his sweating hands in his lap and his heart racing in his chest. ‘It’s all the… All the people he’s dated,’ he managed, squeezing his hands together. ‘He’s moved on from each of them really sudden, without warning.’

He swallowed, as that answer was a little too close to the truth and hit a little too close to home for him, and Mason’s eyes widened in understanding as the realization hit him. ‘Oh. Oh, Li, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up. I was just wondering…’

‘It’s fine,’ Liam cut him off. ‘This thing’s only for a month, and it’s not even real. Not much that can go wrong, right?’

Mason stayed silent, sending him a regretful look as he nodded, and Corey leaned over to steal the remote from Liam with a grin on his face. ‘How about we just continue the movie, yeah?’ he asked. ‘That’s what we’re here to do right?’ he continued, clicking the movie on play again.

Liam nodded, chuckling, and nestled against the couch again, feeling the tense atmosphere in the air slipping away. He hadn’t meant to be harsh with his friend, knowing how his current attitude towards Theo might raise questions from some people, but something about the guy just didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t want to think about it now though, and instead focused on the movie playing on the screen where Simon Pegg’s character was currently oblivious of the fact that there were zombies roaming the streets. He gave Mason a smile as he caught him looking at him, a sign that he was good and everything was fine between them. Mason gave him a smile back.

‘Hey, do you guys think I should get another tattoo?’ Liam asked then halfway through the movie, ignoring the fact that there was a full-on zombie attack happening. Corey sighed, pausing the movie, but Mason snorted. ‘Another one!?’ he repeated. ‘You make it sound like you’ve got tons of them, when it’s actually just one.’

Liam stuck his tongue out to him, chuckling. ‘Yeah, so another one is the right word for it,’ he grinned. ‘I was thinking of paying Scott a visit tomorrow.’

‘You should!’ Mason replied enthusiastically. ‘How long’s it been since you’ve done that?’

Liam sighed, frowning. ‘Too long,’ he muttered. ‘But it’ll be a nice surprise.’

‘Yeah, definitely,’ Mason said, just as Corey asked: ‘Do you know what you’re gonna get?’

‘I don’t know yet,’ Liam shrugged. ‘Maybe Scott has some cool designs tomorrow. I’ll think of something.’

‘Well, the one you have now is a wolf on your upper arm, you could get a full moon with that on your other arm,’ Mason suggested. ‘And you did always say you wanted to get birds or a phoenix.’

Liam bit his lip in thought, considering Mason’s suggestions. A full moon sounded good, but it was true that he had always wanted a phoenix on his other arm, ever since his stepdad said he would go with him so he could get a tattoo. ‘Yeah…’ he said. ‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Is David gonna go with you again?’ Corey asked, leaning forward. ‘Is he home tomorrow?’

‘Yeah,’ Liam nodded, looking over at him. ‘He sort of has to.’

Corey nodded, understandingly, and his face lit up. ‘Well, I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Do you think maybe we can come with you?’

‘Uh…’ Liam started unsurely, coughing, with heated cheeks. ‘Is it okay if I’m gonna…’

‘Say hi to Scott on your own?’ Mason asked, finishing his sentence for him. ‘Yeah, of course. I get it, it’s been a while since you’ve seen him. We can just see your tattoo after that.’

Liam smiled, nodding and happy that Mason always seemed to get him. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.

Corey smiled, shaking his head. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘Like Mason said, we’ll see your tattoo after. It’ll be awesome, I bet.’

Liam grinned, relieved that Corey was okay with it too, and nodded towards the TV again. ‘Can we now continue that movie like we said we would?’ he laughed, like everyone was seemingly thinking.

Mason grinned, nodding. ‘Yeah!’ he called and Liam chuckled, clicking the movie on play again. ,p>*****

The little bell above the door jingled as Liam pushed it open and stepped inside the tattoo shop, his stepdad following behind him, and the soft music playing in the background reached his ears. Liam couldn’t stop the corners of lips from turning up; Scott had always had a good taste in music.

Upon hearing the soft sound of the doorbell, Scott came up to check on them from the far end of the store, his face lighting up with a smile as he saw who it was.

‘Liam!’ he called happily. ‘Long time no see.’

Liam chuckled, greeting him back, despite the dark cloud that hung over his head as he thought of the fact that it was inevitable that Scott started asking questions about the bet. There was no way Stiles hadn’t told him by now. ‘Yeah, no kidding,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve been a little busy lately.’

Scott nodded in understanding. ‘School’s tough, I remember,’ he said, before turning around. Liam took the time to study the little tattoo shop, the dark-colored walls that it had, all the equipment that stood around and the big drawings of designs here and there on the walls. It wasn’t big, but Liam remembered how cool he thought it was when Scott had shown it to him for the first time.

Scott’s voice interrupted his thoughts then, as he called out for the other person in the shop. ‘Malia, look who’s here!’ he called, catching the attention of his girlfriend hanging around behind the counter.

‘I’ve seen him,’ she started, leaning forward over the counter as she greeted him. ‘Hey tiny,’ she smirked, raising her hand at him.

Liam rolled his eyes at the nickname, grinning back at her. ‘Hey there.’

Malia smiled widely at his reply, and Liam turned away from her, back to Scott. He had known the two for ages, same with Stiles and Lydia, who had been in the same class as Scott and Malia. They’d met in high school, where Scott had been two years above Liam and they’d been friends ever since then. Scott and Malia had started dating right after graduation, and Stiles and Lydia a little later. Seeing them together made Liam think of his own last relationship, which brought back some painful memories, but he couldn’t stop being happy for Scott.

‘So, you’re here for a new tattoo, Liam?’ Scott asked, glancing towards David next to him and continuing when Liam nodded. ‘Do you have something in mind?’

‘Eh… Yeah,’ Liam started, looking around the shop. ‘Is it possible to do it without an appointment? Isn’t Derek here today?’

‘Saturday’s his day off,’ Scott responded, looking over his shoulder to Liam as he explained that Derek, who was the owner of the shop and preferred appointments, wasn’t in today. ‘Used to be Thursdays.’

Liam nodded in understanding, thinking that Derek had been smart to do that. Since the shop was closed on Sunday anyway, he had two days off in a row now.

Scott smiled, turning around. ‘We have a little time free now. What tattoo do you want?’

‘Oh! Eh, I’ve been thinking about a phoenix, on my right shoulder!’ he exclaimed, chuckling.

Scott laughed, nodding. ‘That should be possible,’ he said, gesturing around the store. ‘The chair in the back is available. You can go already, I’ll be there in a minute.’ Liam nodded, doing what Scott said as his stepdad stayed behind with Malia for the time being, and got comfortable in the chair that Scott had told him to take. He looked around, waiting for the older boy to come to him, and was hit with the thought of how it had almost been a week since the start of his bet with Theo as he did. A soft sigh slipped past his lips, unable to deny that it had passed by faster than he thought, but also confronted with the fact that there were still three weeks to go.

He hoped those would go by fast too.

When Scott walked up to him, a few designs of phoenixes in his hand, Liam smiled. He made sure to take a good look at all of them, making sure he chose the right one, before he made his decision and Scott got started. ‘So how are you?’ he asked, breaking the silence. ‘I haven’t heard from you in a while.’

Liam gritted his teeth in pain, happy with the conversation and thankful for the distraction Scott offered. ‘Yeah… It’s fine. Though, school’s busy, you know. I… had a bad grade for biology last week.’ He looked up. ‘I still find that hard, science and stuff.’

Scott nodded, not looking up from what he was doing. ‘I know. I’m glad I’m out of high school. But have you thought about… Tutoring, maybe?’

Liam bit his lip, shaking his head. ‘No…’ he admitted with heated cheeks. ‘Not really. Help is… Not really my thing.’

Now Scott did look up, pausing. ‘I know,’ he started. ‘But if it could help…’

Liam stayed silent, considering Scott’s answer while he continued the tattoo. He bit his lip, clenching his hands into fists, but their silence didn’t last too long. It wasn’t long before Scott spoke up again, like Liam knew and dreaded he would since he set foot in the store. He swallowed, knowing it had been inevitable.

‘That’s… Not the only thing that’s been happening at your school,’ Scott started, slower this time as he shot Liam a look. ‘If I believe Stiles anyway. You wanna tell me?’

Liam sighed, clenching his jaw. ‘Look, it started out as a bet, okay? It wasn’t my idea, it was Mason’s. And it’s only for a month anyway.’

He remembered thinking that was long when it started, but now a week had passed already. Time really was going fast.

Scott glanced towards him, a frown on his face. ‘But you don’t really think it’s a good idea, do you? I mean, I know you don’t like Theo. But aren’t you worried it’s gonna end bad? Cause it sure sounds like the perfect recipe for unhappy endings.’

A soft sigh spilled past Liam’s lips and he stayed silent for a moment, thinking over Scott’s words before he mumbled: ‘It was Mason’s idea, and Theo’s friends. They want us to get along better.’

Scott nodded softly. ‘I get that,’ he said. ‘Really. But why is this necessary to achieve that? Can’t you just do it normally?’

Liam stayed silent, considering the older boy’s words. He knew that if they had to do it normally it would likely never work, because never in a million years would he spend time with Theo like that. He didn’t admit to that out loud though, and looked over at Scott. ‘It won’t be that bad,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s only a month.’

‘Okay,’ Scott nodded. ‘Okay, if you say so then it must be fine. But…’ He remained silent, not finishing his sentence, though Liam knew what he was trying to say. If it did end in hurt, Liam could come and talk to him. He appreciated it. But he didn’t think it would be necessary.

Scott finished the tattoo off neatly after that, the look of concentration never leaving his face as they talked about small things, like a new movie coming out or college. When the biggest part of the tattoo was finished his stepdad walked in to check on him, and sat down to watch for a while. When it was finished completely Scott made sure to take care of it and put a bandage on it, and waited till Liam felt okay before he walked him to the front. There, David pulled out his wallet, as they had agreed to both pay for it a little bit, and Liam grinned. He couldn’t wait to get a good look at his tattoo, but he knew he had to wait for now. Scott smiled, explaining aftercare to him again a little faster than last time as he was still familiar with it, and nodded at him as they left.

‘Bye Liam,’ he said.

Liam grinned. ‘Bye Scott,’ he replied, just as Malia called out: ‘Bye, tiny!’ And Liam chuckled at the name, rolling his eyes. ‘See you soon, Malia,’ he sighed with the corner of his mouth turned up just slightly.

David opened the door and they stepped outside, the little bell ringing above their heads. Outside, his stepdad turned to him, raising his eyebrows. ‘What do you say? You wanna get some ice cream?’

Liam nodded, grinning. ‘Hell yeah,’ he laughed, as if he was gonna say no to that, and David nodded, smiling, before they turned and walked to the nearest ice cream shop.

*****

It was on Saturday night that Liam was surprised by a sudden, unexpected text from Theo, his phone buzzing on his desk in his bedroom.

_What’s your favorite food?_

Liam frowned, staring down at the screen before typing a short answer back. _Why?_ He couldn’t deny being suspicious by Theo’s text, when they had never really texted before since the start of the bet.

It didn’t take long before his phone buzzed again and Liam sunk down on his bed, against his pillows, to focus on this text conversation they were apparently doing now.

_Come on, it’s a surprise. Just tell me._

Liam bit on his lip, his thumbs hovering over his key board. _I don’t like surprises. Something you should know about me._

 _You’ll like this one_ , came Theo’s reply, and Liam raised his eyebrows. He paused for a moment, thinking of what to text back, whether he should text back at all, and not asking what they were gonna do as Theo had said that it was a surprise. Instead he let out a sigh and texted back a response. _My favorite food is pasta carbonara._

It didn’t take long for Theo to answer again, Liam’s phone buzzing in his hands. He picked it up, reading the text on his screen.

_Okay, that’s good to know. You should come by my house tomorrow, probably around five. Here’s my address for you._

It was followed by an address indeed and Liam raised his eyebrows, surprised by the fact that Theo’s planned date would take place at his house, and stared the address on his screen. He’d heard of the place, he should be able to find it, but he couldn’t deny that it made him nervous. Before he could text though, his phone buzzed again and his eyes wandered over Theo’s text on the screen.

 _My parents and sister should be out, so we’re home alone_ , he said.

Liam swallowed at the words, as that somehow didn’t sound much better than if Theo would say that his parents were home. He knew though, despite his nervousness, that he couldn’t really do much about it. It was Theo’s turn to organize the date after all. And so, with shaking hands, he texted the boy back: _Fine. I’ll see you there then._

Theo’s last text back to him was a simple smiley emoji, Liam bit his lip, before their talk went silent.

*****

Liam swallowed, coming to a stop on Theo’s doorstep and paused, taking a look a round before ringing the doorbell with a shaky hand. It wasn’t a very big place, not much bigger than his own house, and yet Liam couldn’t help but be impressed with it because of its large driveway, and the fact that there were less houses in the street that had ground all around them and all looked alike since they were all very modern built.

The sound of the bell rang loud through Theo’s house, Liam looked through the frosted glass of the front door curiously, and it didn’t take long before he caught Theo walking into the hallway and opening the door. ‘Hey there,’ he greeted him with a smile on his face. ‘You’re right on time.’

Liam forced a smile back, relieved to find that it wasn’t as hard as he thought, and greeted him back. ‘Hey.’ He frowned. ‘Yeah. In time for what, exactly? You wouldn’t exactly tell me, yesterday…’

Theo laughed, smirking. ‘Yeah, sorry about that. But why don’t you come inside first? It would be rude of me to leave you on the doorstep. And then I can show you later.’

Liam frowned, feeling a little irritated by Theo’s need to be mysterious, but he nodded and stepped inside over the threshold. It had grown colder outside, and anything was better than stay out there. Even stepping inside Theo’s house a little nervous, as he had no idea what Theo was planning to do today.

‘You’re not going to kidnap me, are you?’ he blurted, already regretting the words before they even left his mouth. Theo snorted, looking over his shoulder with a grin. ‘I can see why you would think that,’ he joked back. ‘But no. You can rest assured.’

Liam bit on his lip, staying silent, and followed Theo through the big, light, clean-looking hallway to the kitchen, leaving his coat behind by the front door. There was a white dresser standing against the wall on the left in the hallway, some pictures of two young kids above it that sparked Liam’s interest, as they must be Theo and his older sister, but with the way Theo was walking Liam didn’t have a lot of time to look around. He was walking much too fast for Liam to get a good look at them.

When they reached the kitchen, Liam saw that it was big, just as clean as the hallway, but had a much homier feel to it. Liam could imagine people finding it pleasant to live here.

‘It’s nice,’ he commented awkwardly, when Theo said nothing and Liam caught the boy looking at him. His cheeks heated up.

‘Thanks,’ Theo responded, opening his mouth again, but before he could continue they were interrupted by someone’s fast footsteps coming down the stairs and the voice of what had to be Theo’s sister calling out: ‘Theo! I have to go…!’

She fell silent, however, when she came to a stop in the doorway of the kitchen and saw that she wasn’t alone, her eyes wandering over to Liam.

Liam smiled, raising his hand. ‘Hi.’

The girl smiled back at him in return, stepping forward. ‘Hi, I’m Tara,’ she said, looking over to her brother. ‘Sorry, Theo mentioned he would have someone over.’

Liam followed Tara’s gaze, towards Theo. ‘You did?’ he asked dumbly. Theo shrugged and Tara stayed quiet for a moment, clearing her throat.

‘Yeah, well, I gotta run,’ she started. ‘Or else I’m late. But, eh, have fun! It was nice to meet you…’

‘Liam,’ he said, as she looked at him with the silent question for his name in her eyes.

‘Okay, Liam,’ she nodded, before looking towards Theo again. ‘I’m gonna go,’ she said, zipping up her coat. ‘Bye.’

‘Bye Tara,’ Theo replied, staying silent and waiting until they heard the front door fall shut behind her before he turned to Liam, giving him a smile. ‘So… That’s my sister.’

‘She seems nice,’ Liam commented, leaning against the kitchen counter. Theo smiled softly, turning around to the kitchen counter. Liam narrowed his eyes, staring at the other boy’s back and crossed his arms. ‘So what are we doing?’ he asked, his voice sounding loud in the kitchen. ‘Surely now you can tell me.’

Theo smirked, whirling around to him. ‘Yeah,’ he said, leaning against the kitchen counter. ‘You remember how I asked your favorite food?’

Liam raised his eyebrows, wondering where Theo was going with this. ‘Yeah?’

‘Well, I’m gonna make it for you!’ Liam stayed silent for a moment, his eyes widening in surprise, before he found his voice again. ‘What?’

For a moment, he wasn’t sure if he’d heard Theo right. There was no way that the guy was gonna cook for him. But when Theo stayed silent, waiting for Liam’s reaction instead of elaborating, Liam slowly pushed himself off of the kitchen island with crossed arms, and made his way over to where the other boy was standing.

‘That’s… Classy,’ he muttered, managing the word past his lips as he placed his hands on the kitchen counter.

‘Right?’ Theo grinned, already rummaging through the kitchen cupboards in search of pans and ingredients he would need. He looked over at Liam, a smirk playing at his lips. ‘I’m glad you think that. Between you and me, I’m pretty proud of this one.’

‘Really?’ Liam asked with raised eyebrows, staring up at the other boy’s eyes. ‘Because to me it just looks like you didn’t want to spend any money.’

It stayed silent, Liam watched Theo’s face fall slightly and he didn’t hesitate to say: ‘I’m joking, that was a joke! You can laugh,’ before Theo’s eyes lit up again and he snorted.

‘Of course!’ he exclaimed, continuing what he was doing and taking out a few pans. ‘You’re, eh, a funny one, Dunbar.’

Liam felt a sting of regret in his chest as Theo avoided his gaze, and he let out a resolute sigh. ‘So,’ he started, in an attempt to carry on the conversation. ‘Do you need any help?’ he asked, figuring it would be awkward anyway to sit still and watch Theo cook.

Theo looked over at him, frowning for a moment, before his familiar grin took over his face. ‘Sure!’ he said. ‘If you’re a good cook anyway. Maybe you can start on the salad?’

Liam coughed. ‘Well, that depends on who you ask,’ he muttered, his eyes downcast and causing Theo to snort. He looked up. ‘But, eh… Salad sounds doable,’ he started, clearing his throat. ‘Where can I find what I need?’

Theo smiled, pausing what he was doing for a moment to explain to him where everything was. Liam nodded, gathering everything he would need, before starting.

It stayed quiet for a moment after that, both of them working in silence for a while, before Theo started to make real progress, and Liam sniffed. He looked over his shoulder to the other boy, because did that smell good already.

‘How are you doing over there?’ Theo asked, once he caught his stare.

‘Pretty good, I guess,’ Liam replied. ‘Salads honestly aren’t that hard.’

‘Hmm, and yet you would be surprised at the creative ways people manage to mess them up sometimes…’ Theo muttered, tasting a bite from the salad. His eyes widened. ‘Though it is good to know that you’re not one of those people!’

Liam snorted, biting on his lip. ‘I’m not even gonna ask what you mean by that,’ he muttered.

‘Good, wise choice,’ Theo commented, turning back to his pasta. Liam chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at the other boy’s back, wondering why he seemed to be so good at cooking. He coughed, clearing his throat. ‘So, eh, where do you want to eat…?’ he asked. ‘Here, or in the living room?’

Theo turned around to him. ‘Let’s eat there,’ he said. ‘We can watch something during dinner if you want?’

Liam nodded, appreciating the option, and after he let Theo explain to him again where he found plates, glasses and knives and forks he carried everything to the living room.

The living room had a homely feel to it, just like the kitchen, and was decorated more warmly than what he had seen from the hallway. Two soft-looking brown couches stood on a woolen carpet, feeling soft under Liam’s feet, and with one couch across from the TV, the other one was placed in a way so that it had its back turned to the dining table on the other side of the living room. It closed off the lounging area, dividing the living room in half between the dining table and the sofa’s. In the middle of the lounging area, stood a small wooden coffee table.

Liam smiled softly. It definitely had a warm feel to it, and he liked it.

Hurriedly, before the plates in his hands became too heavy, he put them down on the coffee table and placed the glasses and the knives and forks next to it. In the middle of the table was just enough room to put down the pans, placing the coasters there, and looked up as Theo came in the living room with the pan in his hands.

He sent Liam a quick smile as he saw that he was already done, and put down the pan. ‘Nicely done!’

‘Thanks,’ Liam muttered, the smell of the pasta carbonara reaching his nose, and making his stomach rumble.

Theo chuckled as he heard it, turning on the TV and sinking down on the couch. Liam followed his lead, sitting down on the other end of the couch. Theo looked over at him. ‘Anything specific you want to watch?’ he asked.

Liam shrugged. ‘A comedy?’ he suggested quietly, not feeling up for anything complicated, and rolled his eyes when Theo clicked on Johnny English. ‘Loser…’ he muttered half-heartedly, causing Theo to snort next to him and glance over at him with the corners of his lips turned upwards.

Liam stayed silent, wrapping some pasta around his fork with his eyes on the movie in concentration, before he took a bite.

Immediately, his eyes widened as he registered the taste, his head snapping over to Theo. ‘Oh my God. This is really good, Theo.’

Theo turned towards him, beaming and with a smirk on his face, and Liam already regretted his words as he was hit with the thought that the look on the other boy’s face couldn’t mean anything good.

‘I’m sorry,’ Theo started, looking smug. ‘I may have misheard, but did you just… Compliment me?’

Liam groaned, averting his gaze and sliding down the back of the couch as far as he could with a full plate of food on his lap. A wave of annoyance for the other boy washed over him and he kept his eyes stubbornly on the screen, watching the movie playing there.

Theo stayed silent for a moment, letting out a soft sigh, as he turned to Liam. ‘I’m glad you like it,’ he said quietly.

Liam remained quiet, keeping his eyes on the screen as he ignored the other boy, but he didn’t miss the silent apology in Theo’s tone. It _had_ only been a joke after all.

He sighed, a soft groan escaping his lips for giving in so soon, and he glanced towards him. ‘So…’ he started, in an attempt to move on. ‘How come your parents aren’t at home tonight?’

Theo smiled softly at the question, shooting a look in his direction. ‘My mom owns a restaurant, and they both work there. My dad’s a chef too.’

The realization hit Liam and he stared down at his plate, pricking his fork into his pasta. ‘I’m guessing that’s why this is so good, isn’t it?’ he asked, looking up.

Theo chuckled, leaning against the back of the couch. ‘I guess you could say that, yeah,’ he grinned. ‘Having two chefs as parents has its perks. I like cooking, something I got from them too, probably. Though…’ A serious look appeared on his face. ‘A restaurant is a lot of work, and so they’re out a lot.’

Liam remained silent, staring down at his lap and not really knowing what to say as he processed Theo’s words. He’d never known that… But he supposed he could imagine that owning a restaurant would take a lot of time.

He looked up, forcing a smile at Theo who was already looking back at him and, not knowing how to respond, he decided to change the subject. ‘So where’s your sister off to then?’ he asked.

Theo sighed, turning back towards the TV with the corner of his mouth turned up slightly. ‘Probably to study somewhere with a friend,’ he replied. ‘It’s her first year of college.’

Liam nodded, taking another bite of his food before it turned cold. ‘If I were her I’d move out probably,’ he muttered, his head snapping up when he heard Theo snort.

‘Weird, right?’ he chuckled. ‘But she likes to stay in the area. Plus, she helps out at the restaurant as a waitress sometimes. She’s fairly clumsy, but only at home, I guess. It works.’

Liam bit his lip to suppress a chuckle, and looked up. ‘So what restaurant is it?’ he asked, surprised with himself for even asking. ‘Anything I would know?’

‘Maybe,’ Theo said, grinning. ‘It’s called _Mia’s Kitchen_ , after my mom.’

‘Oh yeah!’ Liam responded. ‘I know that one! It’s on main street, next to that clothing boutique for old ladies right?’

Theo burst out laughing at that, having to stop himself before he could answer. ‘That would be the one,’ he hiccupped.

‘Is a good place,’ Liam mumbled, looking down at his plate. ‘I’ve been there a few times with my parents.’

‘Thanks,’ Theo smirked to him. ‘I’ll make sure to tell them that, they would love to hear it.’

Liam stared blankly at him and Theo put his plate on the table, standing up. ‘Do you want anything to drink?’ he asked, filling the silence. ‘I think I got some wine, or beer if you’d prefer that… Or something else,’ he blurted.

Liam raised his eyebrow. ‘Whatever you’ll have is fine,’ he responded.

Theo nodded shortly, disappearing into the kitchen. Liam’s eyes wandered over to the TV and when Theo came back with a bottle of wine, he sunk down on the couch again. Liam glanced over at him as he poured it in their glasses.

‘So what does Tara study then?’ he asked, breaking the silence.

Theo looked up, a little surprised with the question as he’d thought that they were just gonna watch now, and enjoy looking at Johnny English crashing a funeral by accident. ‘Uh… Business management,’ he said, seeing how Liam’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Impressive,’ he commented.

Theo nodded, falling against he back of the couch again. ‘Yeah…’ he said. ‘Tara’s really figuring things out now, and it’s great to see,' he continued, his honesty at the comment sounding through his voice.

Liam nodded slowly, hesitating and wondering whether he should ask, before he continued. ‘Do you already know what you’re gonna study after high school?’

Theo’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at the question, but he nodded determinedly. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘For sure. I’ve always been interested in biology, so that, probably.’

Liam bit his lip, staring down at his plate. ‘Man…’ he muttered. ‘You’re really interested in that, aren’t you?’

Theo chuckled next to him, glancing over at him. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I really am,’ before a more serious expression formed on his face and he turned towards Liam. ‘You know I really can help you out with biology if you want to, right?’ he asked, with a frown on his face.

‘I know!’ Liam responded, the words coming out harsher than he knew he meant, but not taking them back. His cheeks heated up. ‘I know,’ he repeated, though he knew that it wasn’t likely that he was gonna take Theo up on his offer. If he was gonna search for a tutor, which he wasn’t sure of, then it was gonna be Mason.

‘Okay, well, just so you know…’ Theo responded with a soft chuckle, not letting Liam throw him off track. Liam rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t help but be annoyed at the fact that he wasn’t as annoyed with Theo as usual.

‘So what do you want to study then?’ Theo asked, interrupting Liam’s thoughts. Liam looked up, his lips curling up into a smile as he thought of his answer to that question. ‘History.’

He’d known it for a while, the subject being his favorite through all four years of high school. Even before that, he’d developed a pretty extreme interest for the topic. He loved to read about, as much as he could.

Theo chuckled. ‘You really like that, don’t you?’ he asked. ‘I noticed you always get the highest grades in our class for that subject.’

Liam groaned, shooting Theo a look and rolling his eyes. ‘Don’t tell me you’re jealous now,’ he muttered, crossing his arms. ‘Or are you afraid I’ll knock of you the throne in more classes?’ He raised an eyebrow.

Theo smirked, leaning forward. ‘Not even close. As of right now, the teachers still like me the most.’

Liam huffed, falling back against the couch. ‘Don’t remind me,’ he grumbled.

Theo burst out laughing at that, giving Liam his familiar smirk, and raised his eyebrows in amusement as Liam flipped him off. Liam groaned, turning back towards the TV, keeping his eyes stubbornly on the screen as Theo chuckled next to him. He stayed silent, taking a sip from his drink with his eyes turned towards the TV, but his silence only lasted a few minutes as he watched the film, before he spoke up again.

‘Can I ask though?’ he said. ‘I kinda noticed your tattoo earlier. How long ago did you get that?’

Liam looked over at him, chewing on his bottom lip in consideration. ‘Not very long,’ he said.

Theo nodded, dragging his gaze up from Liam’s shoulder to his eyes, a hint of curiosity in them. He hesitated, before he asked: ‘Can I see?’

The question took Liam by surprise a little, though he knew it shouldn’t. It was normal for people to get curious and wanting to see a tattoo, and he sighed softly before lifting up his sleeve. ‘It’s a wolf.’

Theo shuffled closer to him, narrowing his eyes before a smile formed on his face. ‘It’s awesome, that’s what it is.’ He looked up. ‘How did you get the idea for it?’

‘Uhm…’ Liam chuckled, his cheeks hot as he wondered why he was telling Theo this. ‘I like wolves. And… My stepdad allowed me to do it a couple months ago.’

Theo looked up at the words, his eyes widening slightly. ‘Stepdad?’

Liam swallowed, avoiding the other boy’s gaze. ‘I got another tattoo yesterday,’ he said instead, silently cursing himself for how sensitive his voice sounded, avoiding the change of subject that Theo brought up.

Theo’s eyes widened at his comment, a grin appearing on his face. ‘Cool! What is it? Can I see it?’

Liam’s head snapped up, a bit annoyed by the flood of questions. ‘No. It’s still bandaged,’ he replied shortly, his voice strained, and he pulled up his other sleeve to show the white bandage to Theo. ‘But it’s a phoenix, if you must know.’

He watched as a look of wonder appeared in Theo’s eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘That’s really cool,’ he said, his voice softer than a moment ago. Liam stared up at him, looking for a sign that he was lying in the other boy’s eyes, but found none.

Theo smiled, straightening his back and turning towards the TV again. ‘I’d like to have a tattoo of my own sometimes,’ he admitted, chuckling when Liam’s head snapped over at him in surprise. ‘If needles didn’t scare me so much.’

‘Really?’ Liam asked, his head snapping up and glancing over at him skeptically. ‘Theo Raeken is afraid of needles? I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.’

It stayed silent for a moment and Liam swallowed, wondering if he’d said too much, when Theo snorted. ‘Shut up! It’s not like I’m going around telling people that when I’ve got a reputation to uphold,’ he joked, his place as most popular guy of their year in his mind. He paused for a moment, looking down, and his voice was quieter when he continued: ‘Somehow I don’t think my parents would love it.’

Liam bit his lip, hesitating and clenching his hands into he fists before he managed through gritted teeth: ‘My mom didn’t either,’ cursing himself for continuing the conversation and telling Theo that. ‘But my stepdad supported it.’

Theo looked up, shooting him a smile before averting his gaze. ‘Well, I’d love to see it if the bandage comes off,’ he admitted, not looking at him.

Liam’s eyes were wide, as he stared over at the other boy. He hadn’t expected him to be so interested in his tattoos, and to willingly skip over a topic that he didn’t want to talk about. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised.

But he also wasn’t willing to bring it up now.

Instead he followed the other boy’s lead, a sigh escaping his lips as he leaned back and took his plate on his lap again, eyes turned towards the TV as he tried hard to relax again and get rid of the tension in his shoulders. Next to him Theo did the same as Liam relaxed a little more, and aside from some quiet questions and answers about passing the cheese or turning up the volume, they finished their dinner and the movie in silence.

*****

It wasn’t until the movie had ended, that Theo turned towards Liam again. With an expectant look in his eyes he caught Liam’s gaze, and nodded towards Liam’s plate.

‘Can I take that?’

Liam looked up. ‘Oh, yeah, here,’ he replied, watching silently for a second as Theo put their two plates on top of each other, their knives and forks lying on them, before he commented: ‘You look like you’ve got waiter experience too.’

Theo snorted, shaking his head. ‘Nope,’ he laughed. ‘Not for me. That’s more my sister’s thing, not mine.’

‘Whatever you say,’ Liam muttered, before looking up. ‘You need help with that?’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Theo chuckled, waiting for Liam to grab the glasses and the wine bottle before he made his way to the kitchen. Liam resisted the urge to roll his eyes, thinking that Theo would be able to find the way to the kitchen in his own house, but followed after him silently. He put the glasses in the dishwasher after Theo had put away the plates, and the wine back where Theo had found it. After they had returned to the living room and turned off the TV, Theo turned to him with his arms crossed and an unsure look on his face.

‘I still have dessert,’ he said. ‘Unless you’d rather to go home now…’

Liam bit his lip. He knew he should say no. He knew he should say no without hesitating, and get the hell out of this house. One long evening spent with Theo Raeken was already too much. But when he looked outside it was raining, and Liam told himself bitterly that he did not want to go home through that and get soaking wet.

‘D-Dessert is fine,’ he managed, clenching his jaw.

Theo’s eyes widened a bit, a small smile playing on his lips. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Okay, there’s tiramisu, or ice cream if you’d prefer that…’

‘I like tiramisu,’ Liam cut him off, and Theo nodded, grinning.

‘I will get that right to you,’ he responded, his usual smirk back on his face. Liam rolled his eyes and Theo grinned, turning on his feet to hurry out of the room. Liam watched after him, the other boy disappearing into the kitchen, before he fell back on the couch and let out a groan.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. He thought he should be insane, staying here when he had his chance to leave.

When footsteps signaled the other boy’s return Liam opened his eyes again, looking at the two bowls with tiramisu in Theo’s hands. He put them down on the coffee table in front of them, looking up.

‘We can actually play a game,’ he said. ‘I’ve got video games, board games…’

Liam stayed silent, dragging his gaze from the bowls of dessert to meet Theo’s eyes. ‘What?’ he asked against better knowledge, and Theo snorted. ‘Jeez. Tone down the enthusiasm, please.’

Liam remained quiet, glaring at him from where he was sitting on the couch, but Theo didn’t wait for an answer. He turned on his feet, strolling over to the wooden cabinet standing on the other end of the living room and pulled the doors open. Liam watched as he leaned down to the bottom shelf, hearing the other boy mutter a few names of a couple games under his breath.

‘Monopoly… Clue… _Twister_ , God!’

Liam rolled his eyes as he could clearly hear the smirk in Theo’s tone at the last game, and crossed his arms. It wasn’t long, however, before Theo stumbled upon a game that he deemed good enough for tonight. ‘Jenga! Got it!’

With a grin on his face he made his way back to the couch, putting the box down on the table and setting it up. Liam watched as he did from the couch, only straightening his back when Theo was done. Theo smirked, looking over at him.

‘As the guest, you get to go first,’ he grinned.

Liam sighed, sending him a glare. ‘How generous,’ he muttered, leaning on his knees with his elbows. ‘But I should tell you: I’m extremely competitive. I hate to lose. Something you should know about me.’

Theo grinned, seemingly happy to hear that. ‘That makes two of us,’ he confessed.

Liam ignored him, not giving a response, though he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t surprised. Theo had never seemed like a guy who would settle to him.

Not that he had ever really paid enough attention to the guy to find out before now.

Narrowing his eyes, he pulled out a little block from the second row of the tower, sending Theo a smirk as he lay the block down next to him.

The other boy sighed, rolling his eyes shortly. ‘Boring,’ he muttered, mockingly, as if to say that he could do better. Liam leaned back, crossing his arms and waiting for him to show him as much.

Theo glanced over at him, sending him a challenging look, before pulling out a block from the row of the tower right above the bottom row.

Liam rolled his eyes. ‘Show-off,’ he grumbled in annoyance, getting ready for his next move.

Theo watched as he did, Liam deciding to be a little more brave as he chose for the third row this time. Theo glanced up at him from the other side of the table, over the tower of blocks. ‘It’s gonna be a long game if you keep playing like that,’ he mumbled.

‘I can take as long as I want!’ Liam snarled in response, wincing as the lack of bite that was usually in his voice as he spoke to Theo got through to him.

Theo grinned. ‘Sure. Then I’ll have to speed things up a little, now won’t I?’

Liam stayed silent, ignoring the other boy, and Theo gave up on waiting for an answer before he pulled out a block from the middle row. He made sure to do it slow, fingers trembling slightly as he did, and let out a breath when he pulled the block out successfully, grinning up at Liam.

Liam rolled his eyes shortly, a wave of annoyance washing over him at the other boy’s need to show off, and chose his next block to pull out. When he did without the tower tumbling over a smile played at his lips, and he looked over at Theo. He nodded, using his turn wisely, and gradually, more and more gaps started to form in the wooden tower. Liam couldn’t deny that it made him a little nervous as he looked at it, his need to win this game growing stronger. In turns, he and Theo chose how to pull out their blocks, until it was starting to look impossible to do without the tower toppling over. Liam squeezed his hands together, narrowing his eyes and looking all around the tower, until he deemed the middle row safe enough to pull a block from. His fingers shook slightly and his heart raced in his chest as he did so, his hands slightly sweaty from the tension of the situation, and he didn’t realize he’d held in his breath until the block came out safely. A soft sigh spilled past his lips, wiping his hands on his jeans, and he looked over at Theo with a shaky breath.

‘Your turn,’ he managed, sitting back down on the floor in front of the coffee table in a more comfortable position and releasing the tension from his shoulders.

Theo nodded, narrowing his eyes in concentration, until he’d chosen a row in the tower to pull a block from. Liam saw his fingers trembling slightly, biting down on his lip, and he also saw the mistake Theo made of being to hasty before pulling the block out completely. It knocked against the rest of the blocks lightly, the gaps in the tower that were already there causing the entire tower to topple over, all over Theo’s arms.

His eyes widened, shouting out before he could stop himself. ‘ _No_! _Shit_!’

Liam burst out laughing at that, clutching his stomach at the other boy’s pitiful look. ‘I win!’ he exclaimed, laughing, as he jumped to his feet and grinned down at the other boy in triumph, a victorious feeling washing over him.

Theo looked up at him with wide eyes, a frown on his face as pink dusted his cheeks, but Liam missed the way Theo’s eyes sparkled as he fell back down on the couch happily. ‘I win,’ he sighed again, not hesitating to rub it in the other boy’s face.

‘Fine,’ Theo sighed, standing up and biting on his lip to suppress his smile, sticking out his hand. ‘I believe congratulations are in order here.’

Liam stared up at him, eyeing his held out hand skeptically, before sighing and taking it, shaking Theo’s hand. ‘Thanks,’ he managed.

Theo nodded in response, sitting down next to him on the couch. ‘I’ll, eh, clean this up later,’ he muttered, gesturing to the remains of the Jenga tower spread out on the table and the floor. Liam nodded, staring down at the blocks in silence. The easy atmosphere that had somehow been there before during the game had faded, replaced by tenser vibe as they tried to think what to do now.

Theo looked up, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a small smile. ‘Do you… Want anything else to drink?’ he asked, a questioning look in his eyes.

‘Eh…’ Liam sighed, with his hands in his lap. ‘No. I think I’m just gonna head home now.’

Theo nodded. ‘Okay.’ He stood up, waiting for Liam to follow him before he headed down to the hallway, where he had left his coat. As Liam pulled it on he stayed silent, leaning against the wall, and looked up when Liam did.

‘Well, eh, I’ll see you tomorrow then I guess, Dunbar,’ he smirked.

Liam rolled his eyes, turning towards the door. ‘I hope not,’ he muttered in response, judging by Theo’s soft snort behind him that the boy had heard him. He bit his lip, reaching out for the door handle and pulling it open.

‘Bye,’ he muttered, turning in the doorway once more before he stepped outside. Theo grinned, raising his hand. ‘Bye,’ he responded, before closing the door behind Liam.

Liam sighed, turning towards the street. He hurried down the path of the front yard, eager to get home when it was already dark outside, and a little late. He hastily walked down the street the way that he knew would lead to his house, lost in his thoughts as he went over the evening that wasn’t nearly as terrible as he thought it might be, much to his bitter surprise.

Not that he would admit to that out loud, to his friends.

Despite that though, there was one thing that stood out above all the rest, one little negative thing. Liam thought back on his joke about Theo not wanting to spend any money with this date, a bitter taste in his mouth, and he winced slightly at the thought. That really hadn’t been okay to say, hadn’t it? He couldn’t help but feel that that had been a little too far, even for him.

He shook it off, though, as he walked further, his thoughts of the night interrupted with his phone buzzing in his pocket. With a soft groan he dug it out, raising his eyebrows as he saw a text from Theo on the screen. _Hey_ _Dunbar_ , it said. _Just so you know, I did have a fun evening._

Liam bit his lip, staring down at his phone with a frown. _Was it really necessary for the other boy to text him right after he left?_ he wondered.

With a sigh he put his phone away again, popping up his collar against the cold wind and made his way home, not remembering to text Theo back until the next morning.

 _I bet I can come up with something even better_ , he wrote, before hitting send and watching the road through his car window as Mason sped off to school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked it! Let me know what you think! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry this has been taking me so long, but this chapter and mainly the progress in it was a real struggle. I find it hard to say if things are going too fast between the boys right now. I hope it's alright. I hope you enjoy anyway! :)

Liam dug around in his locker, looking for the books he would need for his first three classes of the day, when he felt something shift behind him, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder before his head snapped up, looking straight into Theo’s face. Liam jumped, against his open locker door a little, and Theo grinned.

‘Hey there,’ he smirked, coming to lean against the row of lockers beside his own. ‘How are you doing this nice Monday morning?’

Liam jumped, looking over his shoulder to the other boy as a slight annoyed feeling washed over him and he went back to sorting out his books before answering. ‘Don’t sneak up on me, you scared me,’ he muttered lowly, before turning to Theo and raising an eyebrow. ‘Besides, you said it yourself, it’s Monday and it’s morning, that’s like double the bad luck, so there’s nothing good about that. Absolutely… nothing.’

Theo snorted softly at that, crossing his arms. ‘I didn’t sneak up on you,’ he chuckled. ‘And, you know, I love how optimistic you always are. It’s so admirable. Are you always this grumpy?’

Liam shot him a glare, stuffing the last of the books he would need for his first classes into his backpack hanging from his locker, before slamming the door shut and turning to Theo. ‘Only when irritating classmates bother me when I didn’t ask for it,’ he replied, though he couldn’t help but notice the lack of bite his comments usually had, and Theo laughed genuinely at it.

‘That’s a yes then,’ the boy responded with a laugh, and Liam swung his backpack over his shoulder, turning to the empty hallway.

‘Think of it as you will,’ he said, starting towards the stairs. ‘I’m going to class.’ They were a little late after all, he knew, Mason and Corey had left ten minutes ago, even though they still had a minute before class started.

Theo nodded, following after him, and it was only when he passed Liam by that Liam stared at the boy’s back with a frown, the thought of the comment he’d made about Theo not wanting to spend money on their date the weekend before, that hadn’t really left him alone all weekend, popping back into his head.

He swallowed, tightening his grip on the band of his bag. ‘Hey, Raeken,’ he said after him, looking up as Theo looked over his shoulder curiously. ‘Yes?’

‘I, uhm…’ he coughed, silently cursing himself and wondering what the best way was to say this. It was definitely unfamiliar to him, doing this, that was for sure. ‘I just… Wanted to say sorry for what I said yesterday,’ he managed, his lips pressed together tightly. ‘That wasn’t cool,’ his cheeks heating up.

When he looked up Theo’s eyes were wide, the surprise at the admission written over his face, but then he smiled, nodding.

‘It’s fine,’ he said, much to Liam’s surprise. That was not the reaction he had expected from the other boy. ‘Let’s just forget about it, yeah?’

Liam slowed his pace as Theo walked further, unable to suppress his surprise at the boy’s reaction. He didn’t mind it though, the easy response relieving him slightly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. ‘You know,’ he said, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms. ‘You definitely forgive way too easily, I don’t think you’ve quite nailed this whole apology thing. Shouldn’t you, you know, make it a little harder on me?’

He wasn’t quite sure where the comment had come from, maybe from that one fight he once had with Hayden where he apologized to her over and over again, showing how sorry he was, and it still didn’t make things better, and he swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth away.

Theo looked over his shoulder, snorting softly with his eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘Nah,’ he chuckled. ‘I think we’re good,’ he said, looking back at Liam expectantly, before asking, ‘Are you coming?’ as time to go to class ticked by fast for them.

‘Yeah,’ Liam breathed, shuffling towards him hurriedly and catching up with him. Together, they walked up the stairs, and made their way to the classroom.

*****

They arrived a little before a minute to class, on time for it to start, but it didn’t take Liam long after glancing around the classroom to notice that most of the seats were already taken, most of the spots besides someone else already occupied, and with a sigh he glanced over at Theo next to him.

‘Great,’ he muttered.

Theo looked up with a frown, staring over at him. ‘What?’

Liam huffed, relaxing his shoulders a bit at Mason’s regretful look and signaling him that it was okay, that it wasn’t his fault. If he wanted to sit somewhere else, he should’ve been on time.

‘Let’s just sit here,’ he grumbled, walking out in front of Theo to a table in the middle of the room, the other boy following close behind him, and fell down in his chair, leaning back.

Theo looked over his shoulder at him, sending him a regretful look. ‘You can sit somewhere else, if you want to,’ he offered quietly. ‘I’m sure Tracy will switch seats with you or something.’

At that, Liam looked up, feeling a bit bad at Theo’s careful tone that he wasn’t used to from him, and a wave of guilt washed over him as he realized that he’d done it again. That he’d just snapped at Theo again, after making himself try and not do that anymore. When had he become that person that just snapped at everyone, no matter the situation? That wasn’t who he was, he didn’t want that.

He sighed, leaning forward across the table as he rested his chin on his hands. ‘No… This is fine,’ he muttered, pulling his biology books and notebook out of his backpack. ‘Do you have a pen?’ he mumbled, realizing much to his own stupidity, that he’d forgotten one.

‘Hm? Yeah, here,’ Theo grinned, sliding one over the table towards him. Liam nodded, catching Mason staring at him from behind them with a triumphant smirk on his face. Liam grimaced, rolling his eyes and flipping his best friend off, with no real malice behind it. Mason chuckled, directing his attention back to the front of the room.

Mrs. Taylor gave them a quick explanation of something new they needed to know for the work they needed to do, before letting them know which questions they needed to do and letting them get to it. Liam let out a sigh, lowering his eyes and scanning the first question quickly, before realizing, frustratedly, that he couldn’t even answer the first one since Mrs. Taylor’s explanation never really stuck with him. Biology all sounded just like Chinese to him.

And even worse, was that Theo was scribbling away hurriedly next to him, a concentrated look on his face. Effortless.

Liam gritted his teeth, tapping his pen on the edge of the table. ‘How do you just… Know, all of that?’ he muttered, glancing towards Theo.

‘What?’ Theo looked up, a smile forming on his face as he saw how far Liam was, or wasn’t. His smile widened, sliding a little closer to Liam and pointing out to him the right paragraph in the text book where he could find the answer, and Liam swallowed.

‘Thanks,’ he muttered, forcing the word past his lips with his cheeks burning before leaning over his book and scanning the words written there, getting to work hurriedly. He wasn’t sure why Theo had agreed to help him, but for the first time, he was weirdly thankful for the other boy. A feeling that he immediately banned to the back of his mind, and he was sure would only last until the next time the boy did something stupid.

Theo looked up, glancing towards Liam’s notebook and opening his mouth to say something, when he was cut off by Mrs. Taylor before he could.

‘Theo, Liam?’ she asked, taking a look at their work. ‘How is it going here?’

‘Fine,’ Theo looked up at her, sliding his notebook over to where she could see it. ‘I think we’re almost done.’

_Show-off_ , was the first thing that popped in Liam’s head, quickly pushing away the negative thought as Mrs. Taylor checked his book with a proud look in her eyes, mumbling a quiet _“good”_ at the assignment, and a small satisfied smile formed on Theo’s face. She hummed, giving Theo his notebook back, before moving onto him.

‘Liam?’ she asked. ‘Can I see how far you are?’

Liam paused, letting out a nervous sigh thinking of all the half-finished assignments he had, hoping that with Theo’s help he’d done at least a little bit of a good job, as he passed her his notebook. Fidgeting with his hands, he watched as she flicked through his book, a frown on her face and her lips pressed in a thin line.

With a sigh she looked up, Liam’s stomach dropping, as she passed the notebook back to him. ‘Liam,’ she started, and Liam bit down on his lip anxiously, a heavy feeling turning in his stomach.

This couldn’t be any good.

‘You’ve barely reached question thirteen, falling behind on the rest of the class, and less than half of the questions before that you’ve answered correctly.’ She sighed, tapping on the questions in his notebook she meant, a hint of concern clouding her strict gaze. ‘If you go on like this, you’re gonna fail this class.’

Liam sucked in a sharp breath at that, his head snapping up, and he felt his breath catch in his throat startled as he stared up at her with eyes wide in shock. _He hadn’t known it was that bad._

Mrs. Taylor smiled as she leaned on his desk, a sympathetic look that Liam didn’t see from the biology teacher very often. From the corner of his eye he could see Theo silently following their conversation, making Liam clench his fists, though he didn’t get to chance to respond before Mrs. Taylor continued.

‘I suggest you get a tutor,’ she commented. ‘You know, someone who can help you with the things you don’t understand. I think it’d be good for you, it could really help you.’

_A tutor_. Liam frowned, the urge to object to that idea strong, not used to getting help for things he struggled with. He usually, eventually, managed to figure things out on his own, even at times it took a little more effort, not liking the way Mrs. Taylor’s eyes slid over to Theo.

‘In fact…’ And Liam didn’t have to hear the second half of that sentence to hear how it was gonna end. _No, not him, anyone but him. Of course it had to be him._

‘Theo gets the highest grades in this class,’ Mrs. Taylor said. ‘I think he could help you out perfectly.’ She stayed silent for a moment, looking expectantly between them before straightening her back and continuing. ‘Maybe you can meet already after school,’ she suggested, exchanging a look. ‘Would that work for you? Do you have time for that?’

‘Uhm, well, we…’ Theo started, shooting a nervous look at Liam who hadn’t moved or said a word yet.

Mrs. Taylor nodded, interrupting him. ‘Maybe you can discuss something. I’d like to hear it from you after class.’

Liam watched, tense, as she walked away, swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth away and doing his best to ignore the heavy feeling in his stomach before she was out of earshot and he slumped forward, rubbing his hand over his face with a sigh.

‘I’m sorry,’ Theo murmured next to him, sincerely, catching Liam by surprise. He glanced over at him, at how honestly guilty Theo looked. ‘I know you didn’t ask for this.’

Liam sighed, sliding down his seat. ‘It’s fine,’ he muttered, mustering up a small smile. ‘It’s not your fault.’ Because for once, it actually wasn’t. They were already seeing each other every day, this might as well be included to that as well.

Theo nodded, giving a small smile in response as he leaned his arms on the table. ‘So, eh, if you have no time after school, we can do it another time. I really do want to help you with this.’

Liam sighed, brushing a hand through his hair before he looked up, steeling himself. ‘After school is fine. We’re going to my house.’

At that, Theo gave a nod, the familiar cocky grin of his returning to his face and Liam let out a breath, dropping his shoulders back as the tension faded. ‘As you wish,’ Theo grinned and Liam flipped him off and looked down, returning to his homework. Though as Theo laughed beside him, Liam for once, alarmingly, found it easier to just let it go than go through the hassle of telling him off irritatedly, instead only thinking about not snapping at him anymore.

*****

They waited until the end of the class to walk up to Mrs. Taylor’s desk, telling her they would be going to Liam’s house after school, as she suggested. Liam tapped his fingers on the edge of her desk, remaining patient as they answered her questions, until they stepped out of the classroom into the hallway, and he let out a deep breath.

Mrs. Taylor would never be his favorite teacher.

‘You still okay with this?’ Theo asked as they made their way down the stairs, studying him expectantly as if to search for a sign that he wasn’t. ‘Mrs. Taylor really isn’t your favorite teacher, is she?’

Liam shrugged, forcing a laugh that just sounded more bitter to him than intended as Theo hit the nail right on its head with his question. ‘Not really, no,’ he agreed. ‘But it’s whatever, I guess I don’t have a choice, he commented, and Theo nodded.

They walked into the cafeteria looking for their friends, who had grown closer and hung out a lot more since the start of their dare, something Liam still felt unsure about, and sat down with them to eat their lunch. The rest of their day passed by fairly quickly, Liam agreed to let Theo have some of his lunch after a moment of grumbling in protest when the other boy wouldn’t stop eyeing it hungrily, and the rest of the classes dragged by boringly.

Before Liam knew it, school was over, and he stood outside waiting for Theo to unlock his car and take them home. Unsurely, Liam climbed into the car when Theo did, taking the passenger seat and pulling the door shut. Theo made sure to turn on the engine before looking up, sending Liam a smile.

‘Which way? You gotta give me some directions here.’

Liam raised his eyebrows. ‘Can’t you just use the navigation system?’ nodding towards the little device.

Theo chuckled, following his gaze as he nodded. ‘Sure, go ahead. That is, if you’re horribly against having car conversations.’

Liam ignored him, as he typed away on the navigation system and put in his address before putting it back where Theo could see it. It wasn’t even that he preferred the silence, really, Theo and he had been on a car trip before back on their way to the mini golf course. He just couldn’t wait to get home, get out of the car, and have a little more space again.

With a sigh he leaned forward, turning on the radio and frowning at Ariana Grande coming out of the speakers. Theo chuckled, glancing over at him as they turned the corner. ‘Getting yourself comfortable, are you?’ he smirked and Liam’s cheeks heated, leaning forward to switch the channel.

‘I don’t like Ariana Grande,’ he muttered, leaning back in his seat. ‘Though I can…’

‘No, no, by all means,’ Theo interrupted him. ‘Leave it on.’ He grinned. ‘I’m not a real big fan of Ariana Grande either.’

Liam looked up at that, opening his mouth meaning to ask what Theo thought of the band currently playing on the radio and what music he did like, as he was interrupted and they arrived at his house. He wasted no time he climbed out of the car, waiting for Theo to walk around it and lock it, before letting them into the house.

‘Mom, I’m home!’ he called, pulling the door shut behind them. ‘Come on,’ he gestured for Theo to follow him, as they stepped into the living room.

He found his mom sitting at the table, flicking through a magazine with a cup of tea next to her, before she looked up at hearing their voices. Her eyes lit up as she saw Liam, looking over curiously as she spotted Theo. ‘You’re late today,’ she stated.

‘Yeah, uh…’ Liam coughed, ‘I had to take of something after class,’ he said, before turning to the third person in the room. ‘Mom, this is Theo. He is… Tutoring me in biology. I need to get my grades up a little.’

Jenna nodded understandingly, smiling, her eyes sliding over to Theo. ‘That’s good to hear. It’s nice to meet you, Theo.’

‘You too, Mrs. Dunbar,’ Theo replied with a smile and Liam’s eyes were wide as he stared over at him, rolling his eyes at him quietly, as Theo used his politeness usually only reserved for their teachers. Why couldn’t Theo ever use that same politeness for him more often? Liam honestly felt that that would’ve saved them a whole lot of trouble.

‘Oh, please,’ his mom chuckled. ‘Call me Jenna,’ as Theo chuckled apologetically, nodding, and Liam’s eyes were wide as he looked between the two of them.

‘So are you a little good at biology, Theo?’ his mom asked, curiously.

‘I think so,’ Theo smiled, Liam rolling his eyes at his attempt at to impress her. ‘I would say so, yes.’

His mom nodded, asking what topic of biology they were gonna study exactly and whether they wanted a cup of tea first, and Liam felt himself grow restless as his mom and Theo talked, fidgeting, and tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

‘Mom?’ he interrupted, once he saw his chance, as there was a pause in the conversation. ‘I think we’re going upstairs,’ he informed them, his tone not leaving any room for protest, and Theo looked over at him in surprise.

He gave a little nod, though, at seeing the look on Liam’s face, ‘Sure,’ and Jenna nodded, giving them a smile. ‘Of course. Homework needs to happen. I’ll bring you boys something to snack later.’

Liam nodded, thankful at that, and looked over at Theo questioningly. ‘Should we go?’ he asked. ‘It’s the second door to the right.’

Theo gave a nod, smiling and seemingly happy to be here and wait for Liam to show him to his bedroom, as he just started doing so and following after Theo, as his mom spoke up softly behind him, chuckling.

‘He’s cute.’

Immediately, Liam flushed, spinning around as he sputtered, and felt his cheeks heating up. ‘Mom!’ he hissed in warning, desperately hoping that Theo hadn’t heard them, looking over his shoulder to where the other boy had disappeared upstairs, with his heart pounding in his chest. How could she even say something like that now, with Theo only five meters away from them!?

His mom only smirked though, and really, Liam should’ve known she would be so obnoxious, as she would with every chance she got with him, rolling his eyes at her quietly. ‘Is he the one you’ve been on that date with, to that lunch diner?’

Liam bit his lip, clenching his jaw. ‘It wasn’t a date,’ he managed lowly, his voice coming out warningly only just resembling that of a growl.

His mom just smiled at that though, something settling in her eyes that Liam couldn’t quite place, and he shot her a pointed look before turning away, a breath escaping his lips. ‘Whatever,’ he muttered, the word tumbling past his lips before escaping out of the room and running up the stairs, with his heart hammering against his chest.

Upstairs, he found Theo leaning against one of the doors in the hallway, which just so happened to be Liam’s, and looked up as he spotted Liam, giving a bashful smile. ‘I didn’t know which one was yours,’ he started. ‘So…’

Liam looked over at him at his truthful tone, nodding, _at least he didn’t barge in and overstep his boundaries, opening random doors and wait in the room he assumed would be Liam’s_ , and reached over Theo’s shoulder to turn the knob. ‘It’s… This one, actually,’ he mumbled, looking up and waiting for the door to swing open fully to reveal his bedroom.

Theo turned, taking a step back, as he waited and looked around the room, the corner of his lip curling up at the sight. It was pretty simple, but Theo liked it. It was just like he expected, just like Liam, and it was obvious that this was the boy’s little safe haven. One accent wall was painted a dark grey, the light grey curtains hanging open by the window with a desk against the wall right next to it, and a small closet filled with knick-knacks and pictures of bands next to it. The thing that caught Theo’s eye most, though, was the poster above Liam’s bed.

‘Slipknot, right?’ he asked.

Liam’s head snapped up at that, following Theo’s gaze as the boy nodded towards the poster, unable to keep the wide genuine grin from making its way onto his face as he saw what Theo was looking at. ‘So you have done your homework then,’ he commented, stepping aside gesturing Theo to go first. Theo simply smirked at him, strolling inside and dropping his bag down by the desk. Truthfully, Liam could say it would’ve sent a hint of annoyance through him, seeing Theo making himself so at home at someone’s house he’d never been before, but he told himself to shrug it off. He guessed that was just Theo, and Theo was confident.

‘Of course,’ Theo responded, turning around with a grin as Liam closed the door behind him, ‘We should know that stuff about each other.’

Liam paused where he was standing by the door, blinking, looking over at Theo. In the back of his mind, he’d had the realization that he didn’t know so much about Theo, remembering his surprise when he’d stayed for dinner over the weekend and Theo had told him his parents owned a restaurant, remembering, surprisingly, how natural that conversation had come to them.

_Did Theo expect to know more about him too?_ not sure how he felt about that, as he usually kept things about himself pretty private.

He shrugged it off non-committedly though, pushing another chair over to the desk where Theo was already waiting for him, sitting down as well. ‘I guess,’ he responded, looking up and his lips curling up into a small smile to make Theo not question his vague reply, and a breath spilled past his lips. ‘Right! Biology?’ he changed the subject quickly to what they were actually here for in the first place, clearing his throat looking over at Theo.

It only took the other boy a moment to respond, his eyes lighting up in amusement as he did. ‘Biology it is,’ he chuckled, a wide grin spreading on his face.

Liam nodded, turning his gaze down to where the biology books were already lying open on his desk. In his head, he mulled over the thought of Theo’s comment from earlier again and again, until the difficulty of biology caught up with him, and he had no choice but to listen to Theo explaining all that he didn’t understand.

*****

‘…And so, that’s how it works. Do you get it now?’

Liam stared down at his biology book, all the notes Theo had written and the little drawings he’d made to explain it better, in amazement, shocked to say that actually, he did. Why Mrs. Taylor had never explained it quite like this he didn’t understand, but he was more than a little bit surprised at how easy Theo made it sound.

He looked up, nodding as Theo stared at him with expectant eyes. ‘I do, yeah,’ he managed, biting his lip.

A smile formed on Theo’s face at the words, eyes sparkling in satisfaction as he leaned back against the back of his chair. ‘That’s good,’ he said, crossing his arms. ‘That was basically the most important thing we have to know for our next test,’ he let Liam know before he paused, frowning questioningly. ‘Or is there still something else you want to know?’

Liam shrugged, catching sight of the earnest look in Theo’s eyes as he waited for an answer, the other boy not seeming to mind at all to help him out further, and he tore his gaze away, looking towards his books on his desk. ‘Eh…’ he started, a small chuckle escaping his lips. ‘I’m actually… Kinda exhausted after that. That was… A lot to keep up.’ He rubbed his eyes to add to the show of being tired for Theo, looking up, and a soft giggle escaped the boy’s lips.

‘I can see that,’ he laughed, leaning back. ‘So what do you suggest we do instead then?’

Liam paused at that, taking in the words slowly, hesitating and backtracking until he’d picked out the one that raised a quiet alarm in the back of his mind. ‘…We?’ He hadn’t expected Theo to still stay over, even if their biology work had come to an end. Wasn’t even sure if he wanted him too, though his mind stayed clear of any words to say to ask Theo to leave. There would be no way to do that that wasn’t rude anyway, he’d told himself he’d try not to do that anymore.

He owed Theo for explaining biology to him in a way he could actually understand, whatever the boy wanted to do now.

‘Well, yeah…’ Theo started unsurely, his grin growing on his face as Liam stayed silent, making no attempt to interrupt him. ‘I was thinking: why don’t you let me listen to some of that music that you like?’ he asked, spinning around in the desk chair to face Liam with mischievously sparkling eyes.

Liam bit his lip, leaning back with crossed arms as he studied Theo’s face. ‘Really?’ he asked, challenging, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. ‘You’re sure you’re up for that?’ knowing that not everybody he knew was a fan of it.

Theo laughed, leaning back. ‘Yeah, sure,’ he chuckled. ‘Why not, bring it on.’

Liam stared at him for a moment longer, narrowing his eyes and considering him, before his lips curled up into a smile and he turned away, shrugging. ‘Okay,’ he chuckled, looking up his playlist on his phone and scrolling through it, looking up and shooting Theo a look as he pressed on a random song that caught his eye. Immediately, heavy drum music blared out of the speaker, echoing through the room, and Liam smirked at the sight of Theo’s slight jump at the sudden sound, before he watched a smile form on the boy’s face.

For a moment it stayed silent in the room, the only sound being the music that Liam turned down just a little, and they listened to it in concentration before Theo opened his mouth with a smile again. ‘This is nice!’ he called loudly over the music, a snort escaping Liam’s lips as he wasn’t quite sure the other boy really meant it, and watched as Theo started to bop his head along with the music. ‘Have you ever tried to sing along with this?’

‘This is definitely not meant for singing!’ Liam leaned back, amused and trying not to laugh, as Theo tried to anyway, causing himself to go breathless in an attempt to keep up with the words he didn’t even know and singing over the music in an offkey way, and he wondered briefly when exactly it had become so easy hanging out with Theo. He was quick to push away the thought again, though, not wanting to deal with that right now, as Theo gestured for him to sing along.

‘Come on! Join in too!’

Liam shook his head, biting his lip to keep in his laughter and his cheeks heated up, and he pressed the pause button on Spotify, abruptly shutting off the music and instead leaving a silence in his room that rang in their ears. ‘No!’

‘Spoil sport,’ Theo muttered, though it was hard missing the small smile on his face.

Liam bit his lip, his mouth twitching as he barely held back his smile. ‘You are really the weirdest person I know.’

At that, Theo looked up, grinning proudly. ‘Thank you.’

Liam shook his head, firmly, pressing his lips together in a tight line and crossing his arms. ‘Nope. Not a compliment.’

Theo simply grinned, and as it stayed silent, the other boy not giving him an answer and instead looking around the room, Liam thought that despite everything, one thing he knew for sure about Theo was that he didn’t care what other people thought. He just did what he wanted, whenever he wanted it, and was always unapologetically himself. He never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. It was more than what Liam could say for himself, and, in a strange way, it was one thing he found admirable and appreciated most about Theo. Maybe that was what other people saw about him too.

As Theo interrupted his thoughts though, nodding to something standing in the closet behind Liam, he looked up, frowning questioningly. ‘Who’s that?’

‘Hm?’ Liam looked over his shoulder, freezing as he saw what Theo was looking at, his face falling and something burning painfully in his chest. He bit his lip, squeezing his hands together in his lip as he felt the urge in the back of his mind to tell Theo that it was none of his business, swallowing though he remembered Theo being himself and showing weird things about him too. ‘That’s, eh… My old best friend Gabe,’ he mumbled in admission, looking down at his lap where his hands shook and he picked at the skin on his wrist, as if sharing this information out loud didn’t terrify him. He swallowed looking at the picture where he found himself and the laughing faces of his ex-friend and ex-girlfriend staring back at him. ‘And my ex-girlfriend Hayden. You’ve seen her.’

With a quick movement he reached out, putting the picture frame face down on his shelf, a soft slap echoing across the room at it hit the wood.

Theo stayed silent, sending Liam a quiet look where he didn’t miss the understanding and calming expression in his green eyes. Why were his fucking eyes so fucking green anyway? ‘Sometimes, not everyone you lose is a loss,’ Theo said and Liam blinked, having to tune back into reality before registering Theo’s words, and take in what he was saying.

Unblinking, with wide eyes, he stared at Theo before shrugging, lowering his eyes and staring down at his lip with heated cheeks and a racing heart _as even then it still felt like a loss_. He didn’t really feel like getting more into it right then, though he really appreciated Theo not giving advice on anything he knew nothing about, instead only sticking with what he'd said. Theo should already count himself lucky that he got as much as he did.

Before Liam could open his mouth though, and tell him as much, a soft knocking at the door interrupted him. As the door opened he looked up, his face softening as his mom stepped into his room with a tray with two glasses of cola and cookies on it in her hands.

‘Hey boys,’ she smiled. ‘I thought you might like this, after all the hard work you’ve been doing.’

Theo’s eyes brightened at the sight of the drinks and cookies, and smiled up at her as he took the tray to help her and put it on the desk. ‘Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Dunbar.’

Liam rolled his eyes at the exaggerated politeness that was back, though his mom just laughed at the comment. ‘Jenna,’ she corrected him, straightening her back. ‘Right. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.’

With that, she squeezed Liam’s shoulder, stepping out of the room again and closing the door behind her. Theo tore his gaze away from the door, sending Liam a smile as he took a sip from his cola. ‘You’re mom’s really cool,’ he said with a smile, a twinkle appearing in his eyes and Liam groaned softly, as he felt like he could already guess what was going on the other boy’s mind right then. ‘You wanna do another song?’

And.. He was right. Liam sent him a glare that only felt a little menacing to him, half-heartedly, before glancing back towards the biology book still lying open on his desk. ‘Let’s not,’ he said resolutely, turning back and taking a sip from his drink. ‘Let’s just go back to that and do what we’re actually here for, cause I’ve still got something I don’t understand.’

Theo nodded, sending him a look from where he sat beside him, a soft smile playing at his lips, before following his lead and turning back. ‘Spill it,’ he said, ignoring the way he caught Liam glancing up at him from the corner of his eye before he did, and held onto his patience as he explained Liam’s biology question to him for a second time without a hassle.

*****

Following after each other, they made their way down the stairs and Theo grinned, amused, at Liam’s hurried steps down to the hallway from behind him. The boy certainly didn’t waste any time bringing this study session to an end.

‘Mom!?’ Liam called, opening the door to the living room. ‘We’re actually finished, so…’ He grinned, stepping inside with the tray with glasses to clean them up in the kitchen.

At hearing him calling her name, his mom looked up, smiling at them standing in the doorway. ‘That’s great! How did it go?’

Theo shot her a smile, unable to help feeling a little proud of himself, as he honestly thought he’d done pretty well, and the other boy now had a better idea of how the subject worked.

‘Pretty good, I think,’ Liam heard him grin, looking over his shoulder and rolling his eyes quietly where he stood in the kitchen, putting away the glasses in the dish washer. Though, really, in the back of his mind, he couldn’t disagree with him. Theo had explained to him in one afternoon what Mrs. Taylor had failed to in the last five of her classes, and really, that was kind of the point of tutoring, wasn’t it?

‘Really? I’m glad,’ his mom laughed, as he replied to her that he understood everything a little bit better now. Her eyes slid over to Theo, sending him a welcoming smile, and Liam followed her gaze, a small chill going down his spine as he thought he knew what she was about to ask him. ‘Are you staying for dinner, Theo?’

And, really, it was inevitable. His mom was never rude, to anyone.

Liam turned to him, waiting for an answer, and Theo smiled, shaking his head and turning to Liam as if he looked to him for permission. ‘No… I should probably get home,’ he replied honestly.

Jenna nodded, smiling, standing up. ‘Of course,’ she said, starting towards the kitchen, looking over her shoulder once more before she did. ‘Though you’re welcome to stay if you change your mind.’

Theo’s face brightened at that, nodding with a smile, and Liam chuckled, turning to him. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised. She invites everybody for dinner.’

‘I heard that!’ Jenna called from the kitchen, causing Theo to snort. ‘It’s called manners, Liam! It’s important!’

Liam flushed, glancing towards Theo as he gestured towards the door of the hallway. ‘Let’s just go… Yeah?’ he suggested, unable to stop his voice from coming out a little demanding.

Looking smug as he followed behind him, Theo let out a laugh, smirking. ‘I think you’re mom’s cool,’ he grinned, making Liam roll his eyes, biting back a smile as he thought back on the first time Theo had said that. ‘So you’ve said,’ his voice coming out dryly. Admittedly though, if only to himself, Theo wasn’t wrong. His mom was pretty cool.

Theo smiled, pulling his jacket from the coat rack and looking towards Liam, as the boy hovered by the front door, hand close to the door knob. ‘Well, I guess we’ll see what you learnt during tutoring today at school tomorrow,’ he said as a way of goodbye, thinking of the biology class they would have then.

Liam glared at him, though he didn’t bother conceal that it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘You’re so fucking arrogant.’

Theo grinned, buttoning up his jacket. ‘Thanks,’ as Liam pulled open the front door, shaking his head. ‘Still not a compliment.’

As Theo stepped outside he just laughed, the breeze messing up his hair. ‘See you tomorrow, Liam.’

‘I hope not,’ Liam replied, as it was the same thing he’d told Theo when it stayed over for dinner during the weekend, and Theo let out a laugh. He gave a little wave, pressing two fingers against his temple in a mock salute and turned, walking towards the street. With that he was gone and Liam pressed the front door shut, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before turning around, and joining his mom in the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think (of the progress)! Comments make my day! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while again. Chapters take a lot of time to write. This one was a bit of a struggle, because angst is hard. I put Liam through some stuff, sorry for that in advance.   
> But I hope you enjoy it! :)

Glancing over his shopping list his mom had written for him for dinner once more, Liam walked into the grocery store, unfocused on the things happening around him. It mainly consisted of a few necessities, along with a small list of ingredients for dinner that night. His mom had promised him that if he would buy her groceries, she would make him her famous lasagna that he loved so much and really, how could he refuse?

Liam was quick to cross off the items from the list, walking through the aisles and tossing them in his cart, before paying at the register and filling up his grocery bag. It was only when he walked out of the store that he paused, stumbling to a sudden stop, and his heart dropped at the sight of the boy standing outside waiting for him, his eyes lighting up as he saw him.

‘Gabe…’

‘Liam… Hi,’ the boy started, his voice bringing Liam to his senses again and he frowned, the sight of the boy being enough to have him tighten his grip on his grocery bag, and have his anger rush through him like he expected, almost dizzying, feeling it burn under his skin. He almost welcomed it, as the memories of what Gabe did to him came pouring back to him. ‘What are you doing here?’

Gabe bit his lip, having noticed the tight clench in Liam’s jaw, but continuing in spite of it. ‘Talking,’ he replied easily, overconfident like Liam knew him, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. ‘I saw you going in here and since I’ve basically searched through the whole town for you, as you might’ve heard from your friend in the coffee shop, I thought I’d wait outside for you.’

At that, Liam couldn’t help the growl that spilled past his lips from the back of his throat as he thought of Gabe visiting the coffee shop, Stiles trying his hardest to keep him away from him, yet Gabe slipped through the cracks despite their efforts anyway. Grabbing his grocery bag from the sidewalk again, squeezing so hard his knuckles turned white, he stepped past him, reminding himself that making a scene in public wouldn’t do any good despite the difficulty of it, through his hazy anger-induced mind. ‘What makes you think I even want to talk to you?’

‘Oh, Liam, come on,’ Gabe’s exasperated voice sounded behind him, his words having pinned Liam to the spot again. ‘How much longer are you gonna be like this?’

Liam froze, an icy cold feeling running through him, settling in his chest as he couldn’t believe Gabe’s nerve. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around, dropping his grocery bag and glaring the boy down with his arms crossed over his chest, chest rising and falling fast. ‘You did not just ask me that.’

Gabe chewed on his lip, mirroring Liam’s position and crossing his arms. ‘Well, I mean, its’ been…’ He was cut off by Liam, his lips curling up in a snarl as an angry snort escaped his mouth. ‘Angry!? You think I’m angry!?’ he spat out, all previous rational thought forgotten as he stepped closer to Gabe, the boy cringing slightly as he did. ‘Well, I guess you’re right! And I don’t care how long it’s been, people don’t do what you did!’

‘Liam…’ Gabe swallowed, taking a step closer reaching out his hand to Liam’s arm, side-eyeing the people that had come to a stop and took a look at them, but Liam didn’t see them, from where the vision out of the corner of his eyes had gone blurry, and he pulled back from Gabe’s reach harshly. ‘No! Stop!’ he started, shutting down Gabe’s every attempt at reconciliation, as his eyes had already begun to burn with wetness at the memory of what had happened, as Liam found out what was going on only when he’d stopped by Hayden’s house unannounced one day, and found Gabe together with her in her bedroom. It still hurt now, like it had back then. ‘You don’t get to do this now! You were the one who fucking made out with my girlfriend during the half of our relationship! You were supposed to be my best friend! But sure, go ahead and act like I’m the one in the wrong. Wonder how much longer I’m gonna be “like this”!’

His rant had left him breathless, his chest rapidly rising and falling as he stared Gabe down, daring him to give an answer. His former best friend’s eyes were wide, only having seen Liam explode like that a handful of times, and never directed at him.

Gabe sighed, looking up meeting Liam’s eyes. ‘You’re right,’ he said, Liam pressing his lips into a thin line as he waited for more, and nothing came. ‘You’re right about this.’

Liam nodded, turning away slightly, already moving to walk back to his car. He couldn’t stay here much longer, the whole talk and situation making him anxious and nauseous. ‘I should think so,’ he managed venomously, leaving no room for protest, keeping his face carefully blank to hide the sting in his chest at the lack of Gabe’s words, the ones that mattered, the ones that it was all about. He looked up, huffing out a breath. ‘Anything else you’d like to say?’ unable to keep his voice from coming out icily. ‘You know, since you came here to “talk”?’ as Gabe so delicately put it.

Gabe stayed silent, looking over at Liam with a look in his eyes that Liam could only describe as faintly pleading, and he was disappointed to find himself unsurprised by it. Gabe had always been good at the fun, the unexpected parties and at dragging Liam along with him in his adventures, but the serious part, the apologizing part, had never been his strong suit. It had often meant Liam had taken the fall for him, had cleaned up his friend’s messes, and he had never minded that too much. Until the unforgivable happened.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Liam muttered, a humorless snort escaping his lips, as he turned away from him. He started towards his car, the whole exchange leaving a bitter taste in his mouth and a sick, heavy feeling in his stomach, though he knew it was better to leave.

He had only taken a few steps towards his car, still quite a few more to go, when Gabe’s voice spoke up behind him again. ‘Liam!’ he called, his voice pleading, though it was hard to miss the angry undertone that had settled there, as he was less than satisfied with the way their conversation had come to an end. ‘What am I supposed to do then!? What do you want me to say? I can’t go back in time and make it better, can I?’

At the words, Liam froze, the words having pinned him to the spot again, as he felt he couldn’t have been prepared for the way his blood boiled hot, the anger thrumming through his veins and crashing down around him, turning his vision red. He turned, his jaw tight and hands clenched into fists by his sides he could feel his nails digging into his skin, as he couldn’t believe the words out of his former friend’s mouth.

‘Nothing!’ he hissed, his voice shaking with the anger that spilled over at last, unable to be kept inside. ‘I want nothing from you! I just want you to leave me alone!’

By then he realized it was the truth, he wasn’t going to spell what he wanted to hear from him out for Gabe, not if he had to go about it that way, it wasn’t even worth it, and he had done it that way for Gabe way too long. He was done. If Gabe couldn’t figure it out on his own, then Liam would leave this mess behind, walk away from it so he could breathe freely and leave Gabe in the past where he belonged, where he couldn’t hurt him anymore, and he was done.

Nothing left to say to that, Gabe gaped at him wordlessly, his eyes wide at Liam’s words, and he snorted, turning and walking away from him for the last time. It felt more final to him than ever before, and a deep sigh spilled past Liam’s lips.

Behind him, he heard Gabe calling his name once more, sounding pleading as he did, but Liam steeled himself, squaring his shoulders and clenching his hands by his sides, as he resisted looking back or going back and tried not to let it get to him.

Breathing hard, his chest rising and falling quickly, he climbed in his car, pulling the door shut beside him with a smack.

For a few minutes, he felt unable to move, as the realization of all that just happened, all that was said, finally crashed around him and left his body stiff. In his mind, he went over it a hundred times, still feeling no regret for Gabe, until the remains of his anger could no longer be kept inside and spilled over the edge, his hands shaking forcibly with it.

With a groan, Liam pulled back, reaching out his hand and letting it come down on his steering wheel, slamming down on it forcefully. From the corner of his eye, he could see a few people walking by startling, though he willed himself not to pay attention to it, making himself focus on taking a few steadying, calming breaths instead.

Only when he was sure he was calm, his hands having stopped shaking violently and uncontrollably, he turned on the engine, driving out of the parking lot and steering onto the street. Checking in his rearview mirror, glancing for any cars behind him, he could still see Gabe standing in the parking lot, looking lost and trapped in a cloud of confusion, as he left him behind.

*****

As soon as Liam walked into the hallway, looking up swinging his backpack onto his back hurriedly and tightening the strap over his shoulder, he could see something was wrong.

From a distance, he could see Marcie leaning against the lockers in the hallway, giggling about something, and Theo stood beside her, having pressed his hand against the lockers next to her head. And big smiles had lightened up both their faces, as they laughed about something.

Liam paused, stopping in his tracks, as he took in the scene in the hallway before him. Vague, half parts of sentences about the unfair load of homework and jokes they made came floating towards him, though not nearly enough for him to understand what they were talking about. He was quick to pick up his pace again, making his way towards his classmates, and he suddenly wondered whether Theo was tutoring other people in biology as well.

‘Theo!’ he called, making his presence known, the other boy turning and looking over at him at hearing his name, his smile widening on his face as he spotted who it was.

‘Ah, look who it is,’ he grinned in response as Liam was within earshot, his familiar smirk tugging at his lips. ‘My favorite fake boyfriend of a week and a half,’ as Liam opened up his locker beside Marcie, only earning a single glance from the girl in his direction.

‘I wasn’t aware you had more than one,’ he muttered tiredly, yawning and placing his coffee cup in his locker temporarily to have his hands free, digging around for the right books. Once he had, he looked up, closing his locker and stuffing his books in his bag clumsily. ‘Also, I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t call me that anymore,’ the words flowing out of his mouth as if on auto-pilot.

‘Right, of course,’ Theo’s simple response came, the boy coming to stand beside him and holding up his backpack for him as Liam struggled with it, making it much easier for him to finish stuffing his books inside and zipping it closed, without having to be asked.

Liam looked up, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. ‘Good.’

‘No problem,’ Theo nodded, though it was clear to Liam that they were both more talking about Theo helping him with his backpack struggles, and a moment of silence fell between them, which Marcie was more than happy to interrupt again.

‘Theo?’ she asked curiously, her tone making it clear that that she was eager to have Theo’s attention on her again, after only a short moment of pause. At that, Liam felt a bit bad, feeling a bit like an intruder. He was the one who’d interrupted their conversation, after all. ‘I’m going to class, I think. Will we meet up after school?’

At the question, Liam glanced between them, an unsure look having taken over Theo’s face as neither of them missed the hopeful look in Marcie’s eyes, and Theo coughed.

Liam thought it was safe to say it was the first time he had ever seen Theo without a smart, snarky, well-crafted answer within hand’s reach, and it kinda made him want to laugh.

‘I, uh… I can’t,’ Theo started stammering, shooting a quick glance at Liam’s direction. ‘I already promised Liam I’d help him with biology after school.’

Immediately, the urge to laugh disappeared, the fun of the situation fading from Liam’s mind as a wave of anger washed over him. He clenched his hands in fists by his side, sending a glare in Theo’s direction.

They both knew there had been no agreement of anything like that between them for that afternoon, no appointment to do homework together, and if Theo didn’t want to hang out with Marcie, Liam wished Theo would at least have the common courtesy to be honest with her about it.

‘Oh,’ Marcie’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, sounding let-down but forcing a smile on her face nonetheless that felt nauseatingly familiar to Liam. ‘Okay. Another time then? I’ll text you?’

‘Sure,’ Theo said, smiling a real smile this time, reaching his eyes and making them sparkle. Liam tore his eyes away, sending Marcie a strained apologetic smile before she turned and walked away hurriedly towards class, her shoulders tense.

Liam waited until she was out of earshot before he let his sigh slip past his lips, turning to do the same and only quickening his pace after Theo fell into step beside him. ‘How much longer are you going to lead her on?’

The question was out before he could stop it, quicker than he had planned to ask it.

Theo paused, a surprised look on his face as Liam looked over his shoulder at him, his eyes wide as he looked back. ‘What?’ and a disbelieving snort bubbled past Liam’s lips.

‘Oh, fuck that,’ he started, turning around. ‘Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how she’s into you. You’re the ladies man here. Are you blind?’ Liam couldn’t help the words from coming out sharper than he intended, but then, he also couldn’t stop the situation from hitting closer to home than he’d have liked.

Theo stayed silent for a moment, placing his hands in his pockets searching for the right answer. ‘I noticed,’ he responded honestly. ‘But.. I can’t force myself to have feelings for someone, believe it or not.’

Liam sighed, feeling some of his irritation fade away at the words. They made sense, whether he thought about it or not. Still, the situation didn’t sit right with him, wanted to repeat his question from earlier, but thought better of it last second. He swallowed the words back, reminding himself that this was something between Theo and Marcie, and that he would’ve never gotten involved if it wasn’t for this fake relationship thing. He shouldn’t even want to get involved.

Instead, he turned, continuing on towards the stairs and waiting for Theo to fall into step beside him.

‘So, how’s your biology work going?’ the other boy asked, changing the subject, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘Did you manage to get any further since the questions we did Monday?’

Liam bit his lip, suppressing a yawn, and directing his gaze towards the floor. ‘I… tried,’ he pressed out, his cheeks heating up as he hadn’t managed to get very far with the new topic in his text book. Theo chuckled. ‘Then how about we continue tutoring after school?’ he asked, as Liam looked up at him. ‘To turn my plans for not being able to hang out with Marcie into a real one?’

Immediately, Liam had forgotten about the mood turning into a slightly easier one, he paused, his anger that was comparable to what he’d felt the day before when he had run into his former friend.

With clenched fists and his jaw tight he turned, sending Theo a glare. ‘Let me make one thing clear,’ he started through gritted teeth, pushing out the words in a low voice and his chest rising and falling quickly. ‘If there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand, it’s cheaters and liars. Okay?’ The words sending a sharp twist of a knife through his chest as they reminded him of what he’d found in his ex-girlfriend’s bedroom with people he thought he could trust one day. Throughout his life he’d never liked dishonest people, really, but that had been taken to a whole new level he wasn’t sure was really healthy after his relationship with Hayden had ended.

Theo seemed taken aback at the words, a huffed laugh escaping Liam’s lips at his stunned expression. Good, he thought, that meant he might actually think about what he had said.

Theo nodded, hurrying to catch up with him, his arms crossed over his chest. With a serious look on his face he looked over at Liam, almost apologetic in a way Liam couldn’t quite place. ‘Noted,’ he uttered, a serious tone lacing his voice. ‘And you’re right. Of course. Honesty is always the best thing to do.’

‘Really?’ Liam asked, his eyebrows raised and not blaming himself for the still lingering skepticism, as right now he was the one taken aback and trying to decide whether Theo was joking or not. He hadn’t expected the other to give in so quickly.

‘Yeah,’ Theo replied, a small smile tugging at his lips that was so different from his usual smirk he had on. Next to Liam he continued towards the stairs, eyeing the paper coffee cup that the boy threw in the trash can on their way suspiciously. He looked up, towards the other boy’s tired eyes, hiding a yawn behind his hand and his shoulders hunched forward slightly.

He sighed, crossing his arms. ‘So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘What’s got you looking all tired? You never drink coffee in the morning.’

Liam glanced over at him suspiciously, not liking the direction that conversation was headed in, or how Theo apparently knew that. It got way too close to all the things he was uncomfortable talking about, again. ‘I just… Slept badly,’ he muttered, crossing his arms.

It wasn’t a complete lie, after running into Gabe the day before he’d been tense all night, on edge, having fallen into a restless sleep before woken up and lying awake in the dark, only to have it all start over again. It had a been an endless cruel cycle, right up until he’d almost fallen asleep behind the wheel standing in front of a traffic light, and only the horn of the car honking behind had scared him back into reality when it inevitably turned green. That was when he knew it was time to do something about it and get himself a coffee, a feeble attempt at getting through the day. It was no doubt helping a little bit, though still, Liam felt drowsy and a bit unsteady on his legs, which he was sure couldn’t really be healthy.

‘I’m sorry,’ Theo said next to him, interrupting his thoughts, looking over and clearly thinking about what to say. Liam could very well see the wheels spinning behind his eyes, though he sounded sincere, and he couldn’t deny that it took him by surprise.

Theo sighed. ‘I know… I know I joke around a lot about this,’ he started, ‘About this fake date thing,’ first unsure, before finding his voice and sounding steadier. ‘But… You can tell me if there’s really something bothering you. I’m really serious about that.’

Liam stared at him, trying and failing for a moment to decide whether Theo was also joking about that. Theo’s eyes stood serious though, giving no indication that he was, and Liam bit down on his lip. ‘That’s, eh… Good to know,’ he started, as he and Theo had never done that type of thing with each other, though he had no intention of telling Theo what he wanted to hear even if he said it. The direction their conversation was headed in, the subject they were close to reaching had him feel like running away, to put as much distance between him and Theo as he could, and he stuffed his sweating hands in his pockets, averting his gaze. Just the thought of telling Theo about Gabe and Hayden made him feel sick, swallowing away a bitter taste from his mouth, even if Theo had already seen the picture of them in his room, and he’d never seen Theo so serious about anything before. Though he sounded sincere, it was weird to see the other boy without a smirk on his face and not joking around for once.

‘Yeah,’ Theo chuckled, wrapping his hands around the straps of his bag as they climbed the stairs. ‘That’s what friends are for, is it not?’

‘Pretty sure it takes two to form a friendship,’ Liam huffed out in response, biting his lip as he looked at the boy beside him, his green eyes sparkling, and Liam took in a deep breath quietly. _Friends._ He let the word roll around in his head for a moment, considering it, trying it on for size. Was that how Theo saw them?

Liam didn’t know what to think of it.

‘Oh, come on,’ Theo’s smug voice pulled him back out of his own head, his smirk back in place, calming Liam’s racing heart somewhat as they got back on familiar ground for them, making snarky comments between the two of them. ‘You’ve been to my house, I’ve been to yours, you’ve met my sister, we’ve hung out outside of school. We’ve been shopping together! I’d say we’re friends. And before you say it, no, that’s not a dirty word!’ wiping out all that Liam thought he could protest against it.

Instead, he only had Theo looking at him with wide sparkling, triumphant eyes and his comment spinning through his mind.

Liam’s mouth twitched, a snort spilling past his lips. ‘I stand by what I said,’ he said, throwing his hands in the air in a mock apology. ‘You’re the weirdest person I know,’ thinking back on his words from two days earlier.

Theo grinned, looking pleased with himself and Liam shook his head, lowering his eyes as they reached the first floor, strolling closer to their classroom.

‘Ladies’ man?’ Theo asked lightly as the door to their room came into sight, thinking back at Liam’s comment from earlier. ‘I don’t think I’m that much of a ladies’ man.’

‘Oh no, there’s definitely something there,’ Liam replied, with the corner of his mouth curled up into a smirk, looking up at Theo, before they reached their classroom and he put his hands on the knob, pushing it down and they walked inside, ready for their class to start.

*****

At the end of the day, Liam couldn’t say that he was sorry that all his classes were over. He felt tired, having made a somewhat good start of the day thanks to the cup of coffee he was smart enough to have bought, but the effect of it, unsurprisingly, didn’t last. By his last class, he had trouble keeping his eyes open and felt a little light in his head, overall not feeling too well, and undeniably relieved that he was able to go home.

‘Come on,’ Theo’s voice sounded next to him, from where he sat on the driver’s seat next to him, as he had driven them home and parked his car on the side of the road next to Liam’s house. ‘We’re almost there.’

Liam glanced out of the side window beside him through his lashes, hanging against the door half asleep. ‘I’m not… Sure I am up for biology homework,’ he muttered, fumbling with the door handle clumsily until it opened. He stumbled out, finding steady ground under his feet on the sidewalk and slammed the door shut hearing Theo chuckle behind him: ‘We’ll see how far we can get,’ and Liam swung his backpack onto his back.

Reaching the front door, he dug through his backpack in search of his house keys, before Theo’s hand reached out in front of him and he rang the doorbell.

‘I’ve got it,’ he simply said, patiently waiting for Jenna to open the door for them and let them in.

Liam knew that, under normal circumstances, he would’ve been annoyed with Theo, as he could take care of his own business very well, but he couldn’t really bring himself to say anything about it then. He was pretty sure his keys had ended up somewhere at the bottom of his bag, taking an eternity to be found and wasting time he could’ve spent inside instead, which Theo had now spared them. He was more than happy to step over the doorstep instead, his mom welcoming them with a quick hug to him and a quick hi to Theo, before promising them tea and chocolate chip cookies as they made their way up the stairs towards Liam’s room for their homework.

It was safe to say, Liam thought, that he was less surprised than on Monday to have once again understood the biology course material better with Theo’s explanations and little drawings than when Mrs. Taylor explained it to him. After all, Theo had told him that he’d always been interested in biology and wanted to study after high school.

With concentrated, narrowed eyes in exhaustion, he let his gaze wander over the words in his textbook, in the paragraph where Theo had told him he could find the answer to the question they were working on, looking for it, when for the second time since coming home a hand reached out in front of him and interrupted his focus, slapping the text book closed.

Snapping his head up, Liam looked over at the boy beside him. ‘I wasn’t done with that yet!’

Theo chuckled, pushing the books aside. ‘I think it’s best if we stop with it for now. You look like you could topple over at any second.’

‘I do not!’ Liam growled, not planning on sitting there and taking Theo’s mock insult without at least a little bit of self-defense, though realistically, he knew Theo was right. He did feel tired, the words having started to dance in front of eyes, and suddenly he wished he would’ve taken a second cup of coffee that day. Though, somehow, he doubted that would’ve made a good difference.

‘Besides,’ Theo continued with a casual nod towards the clock on his nightstand. ‘It’s late. Your mom must have dinner ready soon. But just so you know, we’ve still managed to get half a chapter done. I’d say we should be proud.’

Liam stared over at him, suppressing a yawn rubbing through his eyes as he could feel a faint ache setting up behind his forehead, before he gave a small nod, allowing himself to let the proud feeling of having gotten at least a little bit of work done rush through his veins. He may have pushed himself, he knew, though one thing he always considered a good quality of himself was his ability to not back down so easily, and recognize a good challenge every now and then.

‘So, let’s go downstairs,’ Theo grinned, right as below them they heard a door opening and Jenna’s voice calling out for them that dinner was ready. ‘Right on time,’ Theo said, turning to Liam, looking over at him as he stood up. ‘And that’s also my cue to leave. My mom left me some leftovers from the restaurant in the fridge for dinner,’ his green eyes lighting up at the mention of the Italian delicacy waiting for him at home.

Liam frowned, sliding his hand over the wooden railing by the stairs. ‘Won’t your parents be home?’ he asked, as they made their way downstairs. ‘Or your sister?’

Theo shrugged. ‘Nah. Wednesday is workday. For all of them,’ a small smile tugging at his lips, though Liam couldn’t say the answer surprised him. He knew Theo’s parents were out a lot, kept busy by their work at the restaurant, and he nodded, averting his gaze at the ground. He had dinner every day with his parents, his stepfather joining too on the days he wasn’t being held up at the hospital, just the three of them talking, laughing, exchanging stories about their day. He loved it. He thought about sitting at home alone, having warmed up your meal in the microwave with the only noise coming from the TV as you ate, but he couldn’t imagine it. Couldn’t really let himself see what that was like, other than the heavy boredom he thought must come with that.

As they set foot in the living room, Liam letting out a small yawn pressing his hand against his temple, his mom looked up at them with a smile. ‘Ah, there you boys are,’ she said, and Liam sniffed. It was impossible not to smell his mom’s incredible delicious lasagna, his stomach rumbling in response to it, and he couldn’t help but hope that having some food in him would make him feel at least somewhat better, get rid of the sharpest edges of his starting headache. Looking around the room, though, seeing the still empty dinner table, he wondered where it was.

‘Oh, Liam, honey,’ his mom started, interrupting his thoughts. ‘I hope you’re okay with eating in front of the TV today,’ answering the question he had in his head. ‘I’ve had a busy day today and I’m a bit tired, need some of that relaxing time on the couch,’ she chuckled. ‘David’s not gonna be home until later.’

Liam nodded, biting his lip feeling a bit bad that today was different from their usual routine, though letting his gaze wander over to the coffee table where two plates and the dish of the lasagna were waiting for them, his stomach rumbling at the sight of it, he couldn’t deny that it looked quite cozy, seeing why his mom wanted to do it differently today. Sitting on the soft grey couch instead of the hard wooden chairs by the table seemed all the more appealing to him, sitting close to his mom while they enjoyed their favorite dinner did actually sound pretty good.

For a moment, he worried about staying awake all through whatever movie they decided they’d watch, eyeing the softness of the couch in suspicion, as that was definitely sleep-inducing, though he was sure his mom wouldn’t mind that. After all, she’d already seen him in his half-awake state that morning, feeling a little dazed, a little unlike himself, for him to know that she would leave him in peace. With a soft sigh spilling past his lips, Liam rubbed his temples, closing his eyes for a moment shaking off the tiredness and the lightness in his head as best as he could in order to be ready for dinner.

‘Theo?’ his mom asked, pulling him back to reality, and Liam opened his eyes, looking over at the boy beside him, in time to notice his mom tearing her concerned gaze away from him. He shook his head, letting her know in his own way that he was alright, despite the consistent dull ache in his head, and he couldn’t blame her for the frown that remained on her face. ‘Do you maybe want to stay for dinner?’ she chuckled, huffing out a laugh as she nodded at the amount of food on the table. ‘I’ve made more than enough for all of us.’

At the question, Theo turned to Liam, the silent question whether he could stay written over his face, and Liam understood. Like Theo, he thought of the similar situation they had faced just two days before.

He blinked, turning to Theo looking at him waiting, the corner of his lip turned up just slightly. ‘My mom makes the best kind of lasagna,’ he let him know quietly, wanting to slap himself right after, because Theo’s parents had an _Italian_ restaurant. If the best kind of lasagna existed, he surely would’ve tasted it already.

Theo stayed silent, considering Liam, searching his face, for what Liam wasn’t sure exactly, and he started to avert his gaze before Theo bit his lip, a grin forming on his face. ‘Well, yeah, I’d like to try some of that,’ he responded, and Liam looked up at him.

‘Really?’ he asked. ‘You’d let this get in the way of your plans to eat leftovers from the fridge at home?’ the question spilling from his mouth automatically.

His mom’s gaze snapped towards him, shooting him a warning look with her eyes, though Theo just burst out laughing, wiping at his eye.

‘Oh, I think I’m good there,’ he replied chuckling, shooting Liam a triumphant look, as he settled comfortably on the couch next to him. His mom sitting on his other side, successfully sandwiching Liam between her and Theo.

Liam swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut at a sharp pang shooting through his head suddenly, before squirming and trying to get away from Theo as best as he could, keeping their legs from touching. He smiled strained, giving a quiet thanks, as his mom loaded their food onto their plates, and Liam piled it up onto his fork to take his first, very good, bite. He wasn’t surprised to find his mom having outdone herself this time, once again, the lasagna tasting even better than ever before, though that didn’t take away from the one, surreal occurrence that day.

So, Liam thought. Here he was on a perfectly normal day, a normal Wednesday night in the middle of the week, and he had Theo fucking Raeken on his couch. Eating lasagna together, and casually watching one of the old James Bond movies. It definitely wasn’t anything Liam had expected to happen.

Despite that, though, Liam could tell he was right about the food, it took away some of the sharpest edges of his headache, though not by much. The dull thundering in his head remained, taking away from his appetite, and after getting only half his plate empty he felt like he couldn’t eat anymore, felt like he would get himself really nauseous if he kept going, and pushed his plate away.

Worriedly, his mom shot him a look. ‘Are you not going to eat anymore?’

Letting out a sigh, Liam shook his head slowly, lowering his eyes to his lap as a wave of guilt washed over him, thinking of all the remaining food still there on the table. ‘No, I… I’m sorry, mom,’ he muttered, dragging his gaze up to meet her worried eyes. Here she was, cooking him more amounts of his favorite food in the best way possible than they could possibly eat, and he couldn’t even finish his one plate. How stupid could he be?

His mom smiled, grabbing his hand squeezing gently. ‘What do I always say?’ she asked. ‘Never eat more than you can manage. It’s not worth getting yourself sick over,’ letting him know that it was okay and he didn’t have to be sorry, taking away some of his feeling of guilt and he breathed out, giving a nod, right as Theo on his other side asked: ‘Are you okay?’

Liam swallowed, looking up to find a concerned frown settled on Theo’s face as he looked over at him, biting back a snide remark that he knew the lingering ache in his head was to blame for. ‘Fine,’ he pressed out the lie instead, staring straight ahead at the movie without really registering what was happening on the screen, fumbling with his hands in his lap.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Theo’s frown deepening, making him squirm in his seat under the boy’s studying, skeptical gaze uneasily, resisting temptation to look back at him, as deep down something told him Theo didn’t believe him anyway and he wondered why Theo would look like that in the first place. The more carefree and relaxed feeling that washed over Liam only came back to him as Theo finally averted his gaze, giving a single nod and showing Liam that he did from the corner of his eye. He leaned back, relaxing his shoulders and nestling against the back of the couch, letting his head rest against it.

The only problem, however, that came with his newfound relaxation, presented itself to Liam soon enough.

His eyes started drooping, Liam willed to keep them open to be able to focus on the plot of the film, though he could feel from a mile away that it was no use. His vision turned blurry, making Pierce Brosnan blurry along with it and breaking away his strong and attractive character. Liam could feel himself slipping, his head falling back against the couch and his mom covering his hand warmly between them before the darkness took him.

When Liam woke next, it was to a voice he would rather shut up, close by his ear, urging him softly to wake up. ‘…Liam? …Liam…?’

He groaned, slapping his hand in the general direction of the sound and feeling it hit something, a chuckle echoing through the room accompanied by a heavier sounding laughs, and Liam frowned. Two laughs? Two people? He vaguely remembered his mom telling him that David would only be home later. Then who else was here?

He huffed, squeezing his eyes shut tighter for a moment before blinking and opening them, squinting against the evening sun shining in through the window, before pushing himself to sit up.

‘Really Liam, if this is what you do during movies, then remind me to never watch one together again,’ a voice said.

Liam stiffened, looking up, the sight of Theo Raeken before him with his green eyes twinkling cheerfully making his shoulders tense, because oh. Of course it was him, he thought, as the memories of the day came flooding back to him. It was bad enough that his nap seemed to have worsened his headache instead of lessened it, a sharp stinging pain nearly splitting his skull making him wince, though if he was ever going to show himself being so vulnerable around Theo again, they would have to find him and drag him out first.

‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ he grumbled through gritted teeth, shielding himself from the light of the sun with his hand. ‘You weren’t so impressive yourself either.’

‘Hey,’ Theo chuckled. ‘I guess that’s fair,’ before turning to Jenna. ‘Well, I guess it’s time for me to be going home then. Thank you so much for the nice dinner. I enjoyed it.’

Liam followed the conversation with strained ears, eyebrows skeptically raised at Theo’s polite words and tone, as it still sounded new to him, resting his head in his hand. Theo smiled, nodding understandingly as Liam told him he wouldn’t walk him to the door this time. ‘Of course. I hope you feel better soon, Liam,’ the words sounding warm and genuine to Liam’s ears.

Theo turned, saying his goodbyes and walking towards the door with Jenna, letting him out, before returning to the living room. Liam was quick to help her clean up, getting more than one concerned look from her thrown in his direction, though it wasn’t until the lightness in his head returned and he had to grab onto the kitchen counter waiting for the sudden wave of dizziness to pass, that she really turned adamant, strictly cutting off his every attempt at protesting that he could at least help her finish this.

‘I’m going to bed,’ he let her know quietly, as it’d been clear from the start that he wasn’t going to won this argument, and he also really, desperately craved the warmth and softness of his bed, the hideaway in which he could shield himself from the outside world.

At that, his mom smiled softly, nodding as she wiped the last of the stains from the counter. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Get some sleep, it should help. I’ll come check on you later, bring you some fresh orange juice. Do you want to take a painkiller before going to bed?’

Liam nodded, giving his mom a warm hug and closing his eyes against her for a second, wondering if he could fall asleep with her as well instead of in his own bed. It felt certainly just as nice and warm and would save him a whole lot of walking, though he eventually managed to convince himself to decide against it. He pulled back from her arms, letting the cold back in with it as he did, and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek ‘Good night,’ before making his way to the stairs. With a sigh, he dragged himself up the stairs, only barely making it to brush his teeth and managing to put on his pajamas, before falling into bed exhaustedly. His eyes fell shut the moment his head hit the pillow, his body wasting no time to let him get the rest he so desperately needed.

*****

Liam groaned, rolling over in his bed gripping the covers tightly, as he felt as if an avalanche of rocks rolled through his head, a sharp pain stinging behind his forehead. Tightly, he screwed his eyes shut against the beginning of the day, the bright light of the first sunrays coming in through the window too much for him to deal with right then.

He knew this was his own fault, should’ve seen this coming last night when the first signs of the dull ache in his skull had begun, and he hadn’t done anything about it, hadn’t taken it as seriously as he could have. He seriously regretted his decisions up until that moment, that led to him lying here with his head throbbing, causing him to shiver even as he lay in the warmth of his bed.

A deep breath spilled past his lips, sounding defeated even to his ears in the quiet of his room, and he turned, rolling over burying his face in the pillow under the darkness of his covers, away from the sunlight. Liam wasn’t sure how long he had stayed there, slipping in and out of sleep as the hands of the clock ticked forward, leaving him in a cloud of confusion as to how long he had been out for, only interrupted when he heard the sound of the door of his bedroom opening slowly behind him.

‘…Liam?’ His mom’s voice pulled him from the heaviest slumber, chasing away some of the thickest fog swirling in his head, as she looked around the edge of the door.

‘I don’t think I can go to school today,’ he muttered shortly, barely audible by where he was pressed against his pillow, turned away from his mom.

‘I wasn’t going to make you.’ She smiled fondly. ‘I was going to suggest you stay home today anyway,’ she said, the mattress denting in beneath her weight as she sat down on it, her fingers combing gently through Liam’s hair. ‘I think it’d be for the best.’

Liam nodded quietly, screwing his eyes shut tighter for a moment as he leaned into her touch, chasing away some of the dark cloud hovering in his head, before he turned on his back with a deep breath, looking up at trying to send his silent _Thank you_ her way as best he could. Watching her look softening on her face, Liam trusted that she got it.

‘What… Time is it?’ he croaked out, desperately hoping he didn’t look as pathetic as he sounded, though, realistically, he knew the opposite was true.

His mom smiled, a small curl of the corner of her lip, as she stroked over his forehead. ‘Half past eleven,’ her voice fond as she looked down at him.

Immediately, the words had Liam shooting up in bed, the alarm of hearing how late it was taking a hold of him. ‘Holy sh…!’ Though he was cut off by his mom, pushing him back against the pillows by his shoulders.

‘Easy, there,’ she commanded, her soft demeanor from a moment ago suddenly gone, having made way for a far more strict one. Liam would never understand how she could shift between moods so easily, so seamlessly, where as he had the same talent, his was a lot more messy. ‘Sleep is good for you,’ she continued. ‘You don’t have to be embarrassed about sleeping a little longer when you’re not feeling well.’

Liam nodded, feeling the pricking of tears in his eyes despite that as he looked up at her. It was true, he really wasn’t feeling too well, the rolling of rocks in his head remaining, and he hated it. Hated being chained to his bed like this.

‘Mom?’ he whispered, biting his lip swallowing back the tears in his eyes.

‘Yes baby?’ she asked, her soft demeanor back in place.

‘Can I have some tea?’

‘Of course, honey,’ she smiled, standing up from the bed leaving his hand that she’d held bare again, after brushing reassuringly over it. ‘Do you want some honey in it? I’ll be right back,’ she let him know, as he’d nodded at her at the question.

His mom having closed the door behind her, Liam sighed, nestling back against the pillows again and closing his eyes for a moment once more before opening them, propping his pillows up against the headboard and sitting against them. From his bedside he grabbed a half-read comic book, opening it where he had left off as he waited, though his mom spoke the truth and returned to his room only five minutes later, a steaming mug of hot tea in her hands.

‘Here you go, just as you like it,’ she smiled, placing it onto his nightstand carefully for him to reach when he wanted to. With a strained smile he dropped his comic book on his lap, opting for the cup of tea instead. The first sip of it, for him, was even better than he could’ve thought, the drink warming his cold body pleasantly, and he wrapped his hands around it, staring down into the cup frowning. With a sigh, his mom took place on his bedside again, shooting him a small smile as she squeezed his knee on top of the blanket. ‘Talk to me,’ she said quietly. ‘Do you want to tell me what happened? You’re never feeling this ill.’

Truthfully, Liam knew it was coming. His mom was never one to miss something going on with him, her mind sharp as a hawk. That didn’t mean it made talking about it any easier for him, the thought of what happened Tuesday afternoon and who he’d ran into still making him feel sick to his stomach.

He swallowed, looking up from under his lashes at her slowly, meeting her gaze. A patient look shone in her eyes, though Liam knew she wasn’t going to leave him until she got her answer. She meant well, after all.

‘I… Ran into Gabe, when you send me to do groceries,’ he pressed out after gathering his courage, watching her eyes grow wide in understanding.

‘Oh… Oh, Liam, I’m sorry,’ she started, a true regretful tone clouding her voice, opening her arms for him that he all too gladly melted into. He could only just put away the mug of hot tea before she pulled him against her, holding his head against her chest, her warm arms encircling him.

His heart throbbed in his chest painfully, all the memories of him and Gabe and Hayden, with all the good times and the ultimately bad times playing in his head like a film with no chance of stopping it, pouring in like a waterfall, and he bit his lip, trying to stop it, but the words had already started spilling past his lips.

‘He says he’s back here searching for me because he wants to talk to me, but I just don’t understand what he wants from me anymore, why he needs to keep playing these games with me after he already took my girlfriend from me, why he can’t just leave me alone, and it hurts! It hurts because I thought I was finally starting to forget about it, and then he’s here again and he didn’t even apologize and I just wish he’d fuck off! And then yesterday night I slept badly because of it, because I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and then I just got a headache from it from the lack of sleep!’

Liam gasped, panting, taking in a deep breath after his word vomit had left him breathless, voice muffled as he sat pressed against her and winced at the wet stain he noticed his tears had left on his mother’s shirt. His mom simply shushed him, holding him firmly in place as he tried to flinch away from her at the sight of it, wrapping her hand at the back of his head keeping him against her chest.

‘Sssh, sweetheart, you’re okay,’ she whispered with her voice close by his ear, calming his racing heart somewhat, as he dropped his shoulders and leaned slumping against her, closing his eyes at the tears dripping from his eyes. ‘You’re okay, you’re gonna be okay, I know you cared for Hayden a lot. I know how something like this can feel as though it broke your world in half, but you gotta trust me when I say that it didn’t. You have the strength to fix it again. You’re okay. I’m sorry.’

A whine crawled from Liam’s throat at her words, unable to stop it as it did, his heart and head throbbing alike, and suddenly he felt tired, so tired, as he reached out his shaking hands wrapping them behind his mom’s back, and stayed silently slumped against her.

He could feel the tears drying on his cheeks, his skin feeling dry as new ones stopped coming, and his eyes felt tired and heavy and begged to be closed, to sleep. His mother’s warmth was welcomed, rocking him to sleep like a lullaby, and Liam wished she would stay, though he knew his bed was too small for the two of them.

‘I think I just want to go back to sleep again,’ he murmured against her shirt, voice barely audible thick with sleep, and he felt his mom nod against him.

‘Of course, honey,’ a warm hand brushing reassuringly down his back. ‘You don’t want me to fix you breakfast?’

Liam shook his head as he fell back against his pillows, crawling under the covers with heavy eyelids, as sleep already pulled heavily at him, trying to drag him under, and the thought of food settled a faint nausea in his stomach, the cup of tea forgotten on his nightstand. The warmth of his bed welcomed him back as he lay his head on the pillow, curling up into a ball under the covers, as the one last noise his ears would let him hear betrayed his mom leaving the room and closing the door behind her, before the darkness overtook him.

*****

Ultimately, as the time of the day ticked forward, Liam slept through most of the day, his mom spoiling him with food on the times he woke up, bringing him hot chicken soup for lunch and an impossible amount of tea. It was a surprise to Liam that when he woke up that afternoon, only just returning to the land of the living a little more, he only had to take a trip to the bathroom once.

It was a half past four when he sat up in his bed, his comic book from earlier spread out on his lap though unable to concentrate, the thoughts of his heartfelt talk with his mom earlier being the only thing in his head and making it hurt, his chest stinging along with it, when the door opened and his mom stepped into the doorway with a smile.

His brows furrowed, Liam looked up, sending her a questioning look. ‘What? What is it?’

‘I believe there’s someone here to see you,’ she smiled, Liam’s head whipping up at the words, biting his lip perking up a little at the admission. ‘Mason? Stiles?’ he asked curiously, suddenly feeling somewhat eager to see one of his best friends, even if he still felt tired and shaken up, though he should’ve known something was off when his mom shook her head conspiratorially and her eyes sparkled at him, stepping aside to let Theo in.

‘Afraid it’s just me, not as exciting as that,’ the boy huffed out a laugh, stepping inside the room.

Immediately, Liam felt his face fall, unable to stop it as it did, as Theo gave him a short wave in greeting, a soft Hi as he brushed his hand through his hair.

‘What are you doing here?’ Liam pressed out, a nauseating feeling of dread filling him and his eyes widening, as he thought of how undeniably much he had to be looking like shit in that moment. Dark heavy bags under his eyes, his hair messy and disheveled and his eyes dull, generally looking riddled with sleep and sickly as the whirlwind of emotions that had blown over him earlier that day had taken its exhausting toll on him. He rubbed a hand over his face, hoping to get rid of some of the trouble showing there, though he wasn’t sure why he suddenly cared about that.

Theo let out a laugh, dropping his hands by his sides as he did. ‘Well, hello to you too,’ he responded. ‘If I’d known what a warm welcome I would get here from you, I wouldn’t have taken the time and energy to come visit and check on you. I brought you these.’

With a smile, Theo held up a small plastic bag, in which Liam only saw what was inside once it stopped swinging. With his eyes sparkling he showed the tangerines to Liam, walking across the room and inviting himself, falling down on the desk chair like he’d done before on their biology tutoring, as if he belonged there, and Liam watched the scene unfold before him with a bite on his lip and dread in his chest. Jenna smiled, pulling the door shut behind her, as she left them to catch up.

Liam swallowed, lowering his eyes to his lap where he fumbled with his hands on his comic book, couldn’t stop the feeling of dread that Theo’s comment had washing over him. He knew it was familiar ground for them, had become common between them which he thought must be the reason for Theo’s mischievous remark, the boy not knowing what else to say, but he didn’t think he could do witty right then.

‘N-Not now,’ he whispered, his heart throbbing in his chest, leaving a sharp sting, and next to him, he could hear the soft sigh spilling from Theo’s lips, the boy fumbling beside him.

‘I’m sorry,’ he spoke up quietly, as Liam looked up at him, catching his eyes shining with concern. ‘I didn’t come here to fight. I just… Got worried when you didn’t show up at school today, and I know you didn’t feel well last night, so I just wanted to see if you were okay.’

Liam’s mind blanked at that, felt as though a cloud had been stuffed inside his head, as if the fog his mom had chased away with their talk earlier had come back, although now, inexplicably, for some unknown reason that Liam wasn’t sure of, it felt like it was a lighter grey than the heavy dark one it had been before. And it stopped Liam from finding the right words to say to Theo’s comment.

‘I had a headache,’ he softly settled upon eventually, finding himself not wanting to tell a complete lie, but knowing himself not to be quite ready to talk about Gabe either, as he’d discovered the day before as well. Just the thought made new nervous sweat break out across his forehead, new panic rise in his stomach, as Theo had said that he could tell him if something was bothering him, and he had seemed sincere about it, though Liam still wasn’t sure how to show this vulnerable side of him to Theo. Didn’t know if he should, as he didn’t know what Theo’s reaction to it was gonna be.

‘Migraine?’ Theo asked quietly, Liam shaking his head in response, and an apologetic small smile played at Theo’s lips. ‘I’m sorry,’ he continued. ‘Those still suck.’

Liam nodded, his mouth dry, and a moment of silence fell between them. Liam used it to take a sip from the cup of water his mom must have left on his nightstand at some point during the day, while he was asleep, and Theo took a look around the room.

‘Looks like your mom’s been taking good care of you,’ he spoke up, interrupting the silence, and Liam followed his gaze to where Theo nodded towards his mug of tea and empty bowl of chicken soup that still stood on his nightstand.

‘Yeah,’ he huffed out a laugh, sitting back against his pillow, feeling some of the tension leaving his shoulders. ‘My mom’s real great.’

Theo nodded, smiling ‘She seems it,’ as he could tell from already having been warmly welcomed by her two times in three days now, the gesture given him a good idea of it.

Liam nodded ‘Yeah,’ leaning back into his pillows as another, heavier silence settled over them thickly and he eyed Theo with a frown, the question that been nagging at him in the back of his mind from the moment the boy had stepped in here pressing heavily on him, his shoulders pressed tensely against his pillow.

‘Theo?’ he asked quietly, swallowing, looking over at him. ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Yeah? What is it?’

Liam swallowed, quietly steeling himself and squeezing his hands together in his lap, his heart racing anxiously in his chest as he thought over the best way to go about this in his head. ‘You, uh, still haven’t answered my question from earlier. Why are you here?’ He paused, letting Theo’s words from earlier, the boy saying he was worried, wash over him, looking over at Theo. ‘I mean… I… I don’t exactly look date-ready, right now.’

It was meant to be a joke. Something to lighten the mood that Liam hated, so they could talk, about whatever the conversation brought up. He hadn’t been prepared for the sound of the sob that left his mouth with the question, how small his voice sounded even to his ears, and Theo’s eyes widened in concern.

‘Hey,’ Theo started, leaning forward, a small smile curling up his lips. ‘Nothing has to be a date if you don’t want it to be. Like I said, I got worried when you weren’t at school today, given last night. Relationships are about more than just going out on dates, Liam. It means coming to see if the other is okay on a bad day. And you shouldn’t care about how you look right then, no matter how you think that is.’ He smiled, leaning back in the chair crossing his arms. ‘I certainly don’t.’

The words, safe to say, weren’t what he expected, as Theo always looked like he put an awful lot of effort into his appearance, successfully so, and there was no way he could compare to it then. Liam swallowed, felt unprepared for the way the words would thicken the fog in his head, his mouth dry, as he silently processed the words for himself and looked over at Theo, feeling unexpectedly numb and his head empty at his comment.

Theo chuckled. ‘There’s nothing wrong with taking care of yourself for once if you’re not feeling well. And, I guess, with me being here, we’re still playing by the rules.’

His comment pulled Liam out of his own head, looking up, as the shift into a lighter mood between them cleared away the fog at least somewhat, endless and inexplicable relief washing over him now that they strayed further away from the subject of why he hadn’t come to school today.

‘Right,’ he pressed out, hugging a cushion from the end of his bed tightly to his chest, as he thought of the rules for the dare their friends had laid out for them. ‘I’m thinking…’ he started, a small smile pulling at his lips without his permission, far too soon for what he thought felt healthy for him. ‘When this is over, and we make it till the end, we need to make a plan of some sort to get back at them.’

Theo snorted, a chuckle escaping his mouth. ‘Great minds think alike,’ he laughed, leaning back. ‘They’d certainly deserve it, wouldn’t they?’

A soft huff escaped Liam’s lips, out there before he could stop it, and he lowered his eyes to his lap. ‘I guess so, yeah,’ before something empty grumbling in his stomach had him look up in apprehension. He eyed the bag of tangerines in Theo’s lap with a frown, as they really did look good, and he felt some of the tension leaving his shoulders, after having slept the ridiculous amount of hours that he had, that had still faded only a little bit of the dark cloud hovering over him, and some of his appetite settled back in place again.

‘Though I will take one of those,’ he said, reaching out his hand towards the bag. ‘My mom hasn’t taken care of that need yet.’

‘Ooh, hungry, are you? That’s a good sign,’ Theo chuckled, his eyes twinkling with something other than the concern that had been there throughout his whole visit, that Liam couldn’t quite place, as he tossed one of the tangerines towards Liam. ‘Here you go,’ as he dug one out of the bag for himself to eat as well.

Handily, Liam caught it, starting to peel off its skin and pop the first piece into his mouth, as a more serious subject popped up in his head again after the lighter mood they’d just had the moment before. ‘So,’ he started, swallowing, after he’d finished off a piece of the tangerine. ‘Be honest with me. Did I… Miss a lot at school today?’

Carefully he looked up, anxious to catch Theo’s first, honest instinctive reaction, that would give away the real answer.

‘Nah,’ came the other boy’s first answer, a grin playing at his lips, a small corner of Liam’s lips curling up at the response. ‘I mean, Harris from chemistry talks too fast and can’t explain shit anyway, so you’ve got nothing to miss there, and I know you’re good at history and languages,’ Theo continued, turning serious at Liam’s question. ‘And given what we went over in class today, I really don’t see why that should be a problem for you,’ he explained.

At the words, Liam stayed silent, giving a small nod, as something warm like a feeling of pride ran through his veins. That didn’t take away, though, from a heavier feeling pressing on his shoulders, concern for the subject swirling through his stomach making it feel heavy, and he anxiously looked over at Theo.

‘And… Biology?’ he asked quietly, looking up slowly, not noticing where he picked at the skin on his wrists until it was red. The last time he’d been in class, Mrs. Taylor had told him that if he didn’t pick up his grade, he would fail the subject.

The thought was enough to settle a panicked sick feeling in his stomach, sending a wave of concern over him, as he thought of why he could’ve been so stupid, he should’ve just gone to school, despite his headaches and exhaustion, when a rustle coming from the other boy beside him had him look up hastily again.

‘Hey,’ Theo’s voice snapped through his thoughts softly, before he could get too far into it, and Liam’s head snapped up, his eyes wide.

‘It’s only one class you’ve missed,’ Theo said, continuing in a serious tone as he leaned forward on his knees. ‘That’s way too little to do any actual damage. And besides, we’ll catch up during tutoring. So far we have gone through the chapters pretty smoothly, haven’t we? There’s nothing to worry about.’

Liam took a deep breath, nodding, reminding himself that that was true, Theo’s words reminding him of the reality of it and dropping the heavy weight off his shoulders. Even yesterday, when he was practically asleep at his desk, not feeling too well, they still managed to get through half a chapter. He guessed it was true that Theo was pretty good at explaining to him.

Not that the boy wouldn’t already know that.

‘We’ll get you caught up again,’ Theo said, leaning back again, his voice resolute as if he had no doubt about it, and he dug out a second tangerine out of the bag on his lap.

Liam stayed silent, his mind blank trying to process the words, only able to give a short nod, and he watched Theo’s every movement. The over the top frown of concentration on the boy’s face as he tried to make a cut in the skin of the tangerine to peel it off, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he did, the innocent twinkle in his eyes that Liam knew was entirely misplaced on the prankster’s face. _Weirdo._ ‘Thanks.’

Theo's head whipped up, the confusion fading making way for a serious look in his eyes, and he nodded. ‘Yeah. Of course,’ he said, before a small smile tugged at his lips making it curl up, and he looked around the room. ‘So,’ he started, the mischievous sparkle in green eyes back in place, and Liam nestled back, finally feeling some proper tension leaving his shoulders, some exhaustion fade, since first waking up that day.

‘What do you usually do when you’re home here all day?’ Theo continued, nodding towards the bookshelf with a grin. ‘You have something interesting to read?’

Liam shuffled in his seat, gesturing towards the shelf. ‘Some history,’ he said honestly, snorting as Theo rolled his eyes at the answer, knowing that the boy still couldn’t get over it that he was second in history class to Liam. ‘And I have The Hunger Games, in case you’re interested.’

‘Now we’re talking,’ Theo grinned, standing up and digging the book out from between the others as if he had done it a hundred times before. Liam’s eyes widened at the sight, at how Theo seemed to just make himself at home everywhere he came.

Smirking, Theo fell back down in the desk chair, rolling it closer to the side of Liam’s bed, and opened up the book, eyes wandering over the words down the page, towards the end of it.

Liam frowned, crossing his arms, suddenly not satisfied with the way the situation had turned out. ‘Hey,’ he started, loudly. ‘Raeken,’ as Theo looked over at him, raising his eyebrows at him over the top of the book so Liam could only see his smug eyes.

‘Would you mind maybe reading that out loud, so I could follow it too?’

‘Oh,’ came the boy’s answer. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that that was what you meant,’ a disbelieving snort escaping Liam’s lips as his hands itched with the sudden want to smack him.

Theo grinned, turning his chair so he came to sit beside him and started the book from the beginning again, taking in a breath before starting, and read slowly and easily to follow. Liam was skeptically amused at the voices he did for Katniss and other characters.

Theo stayed seated on the desk chair until the clock said it was dinner time, Jenna came in to say it was almost ready, and Liam started to feel fatigued again. Given the choice, he opted to have another bowl of chicken soup in his room, rather than eat downstairs with his parents, and Theo took it as his cue to leave, and head home again.

Letting Liam know that he would see, maybe, if he would stop by again tomorrow.

Liam nodded, waiting for him to leave and his mom bringing him some chicken soup, filling his stomach and making at least some of the rumbling fade, before he put away the bowl on his nightstand again and he lay down again, nestling in his pillows comfortably and closing his eyes, and letting sleep wash over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Comments make my day! :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! :)


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